Life Beyond Listening
by Poofable
Summary: Sometimes, when a person is broken on the inside, they may stumble across the opportunity to be reborn. Luka, who has let his past take control of his life, knows that he needs a second chance. And when he awakens in the midst of a war in a world that isn't his own, he will be forced to choose what is most important to him and find his way home again.
1. Prologue: Life Beyond Listening

**Began chapter: **June 15, 2012  
**Posted: **June 29, 2012  
**Rating**: This entire fanfiction is rated **K+**

* * *

#1: I seriously **suggest you read** _The Passionflower_ before this story. The Prologue itself has many spoilers that could ruin it for you (if you are planning on reading it and haven't yet, then _GTFO _the sequel_. _What are you doing here? _LEAVE_._)_

#2: However, you **are not** **required to read **_The Passionflower_ beforehand, because I give enough back-story in this story to help you understand what's happening.

* * *

**Prologue**

_One thousand years ago_: The overlord, Arceus, was imprisoned within his own mind by an evil force that threatened to destroy the world. The fear that his kingdom was falling and his subjects were straying opened his heart to the malevolent presence known as Obsidian, who took advantage of him and began to manifest within his body.

_Ten years ago_: The man, Epsilon, embarked on a quest to search for the missing Time Gears and rescue his friends from a monster that was once good – the Master of Time, Dialga. Even though he succeeded, there were many prices to pay, such as the lifespan of the woman he loved the most and servitude for the beast he had triumphed over.

_One year ago_: The girl, Alfie, was given a second chance. Though she was afraid of her own shadow, she was thrown into a world that wasn't her own and expected to live up to a destiny that she was not even sure was hers. While struggling to find the truth, she stumbled many times along the way, running into barricades and obstacles that stopped her from achieving her goals.

Yet, she was also one of our world's greatest heroes.

She traveled back in time to save a woman from certain death, releasing Epsilon from his servitude and Dialga from Obsidian's influence. Not long after, she destroyed Obsidian completely, ridding the overlord of the illness that had wrecked his mind for millennia. She found true love, in both a young man and the family that had accepted her as one of their own.

Now, there is something else stirring within our world. The overlord has been recovering for twelve months now, but while he has been resting, there have been darker forces still. Those who have been planning to undermine his rule have finally jumped into action. There will be lives lost and hearts broken, but I know that there is someone out there who can save us.

Certain stories may not be over just yet, but now our world must make room for another hero or two. They come in the most unlikely of packages, those heroes, and they are not always up to the task. Through a series of events, however, they will come to see their purpose in the world. Only then can we trust that they will rise to the occasion, brave the storms and conquer the fires.

These heroes are called the _divergents_, those who have broken away from their homeland and defied the norms of common understanding. They are the ones who have opened their eyes to new worlds, reborn into new bodies and new hearts. Unlike any other living being, they cross the boundaries between universes, and with their power comes acceptance of the world around them.

I am Suicune, the Northern Wind. For years, I have fallen in love with the divergent ones' ways, but now it is my turn to tell their tales. They were once almighty and magnificent, and from the examples set before them, they _will_ rise once again.

* * *

"I _hate_ my mother," said Luka. Even though he had made the comment in a very straightforward manner, he was pretending to be preoccupied with the scenery outside of the car window. "She was supposed to get me tickets for the concert in the city tomorrow night, but she couldn't, just because she was _busy_."

"Oh, I understand, my father does the same thing."

Luka glared at the brunette-haired girl sitting across the limo from him, realizing that she was only saying that because she wanted to be agreeable. "It's not that I'm upset about missing the concert. It's that she wasn't busy at _all_. She spent the whole weekend with that stupid Richard guy. He's just trying to get with her for our money."

The girl, Cassia, sighed and took her gaze away from the window. "Richard isn't too bad," she said, straightening her posture as she tidied her hair. "Remember when he took you and your, uh, friends to the water park in Cerulean City? That was so nice of him. I think you're just being overdramatic."

_And I think you're just another girl who isn't going to see me anymore_, thought Luka. Cassia was something beautiful all right, but when she wasn't being entirely absentminded, she was insulting him because she thought_ too _much. At least she was replaceable, because she was starting to get on his nerves. _Have fun walking to school._

He didn't voice aloud any of his thoughts, however. "Whatever," he said, returning his eyes to the scenery outside of the limo.

In the morning, Saffron looked like any other city in Kanto. Even though it was called the "Shining Big City", there were no special lights once the sun hit the horizon. Luka found the whole place to be one large trap, in which there was little to no escape. For him, every day was the same mediocre routine – wake up, attend school, go home. After all, there were only so many things he could do with his mother's vast amounts of money.

_Reminder number one: As soon as we get to school, leave Cassia and find someone who's a lot more exciting. _Luka exhaled and leaned back against the seats, his arms spread out behind him. When Cassia questioned his smug appearance with one of her looks, he only grinned wider and tapped his fingers to the music on the radio.

The moment that the limo pulled into the school driveway, Luka swept himself from the vehicle and stood on the cement, contemplating his choices. Before his companion could even close the door to the car, he had already left her. He heard her voice behind him, "Luka, _Luka_, wait up!"

Unfortunately, girls could run faster in high heels than he'd expected, because in mere moments, she'd caught up to him and grabbed his forearm. Mentally sneering at her, he said, "I figured you would catch up. I was just about to…"

He trailed off, his eyes wandering off in the other direction. At the entrance to the school, just on top of the concrete wall by the steps, was a girl in a green sundress. She was standing behind one of the large garden trees, intentionally hiding herself from him and watching him closely, never letting her gaze leave him.

_What's up with her green hair? Are those flower petals around her neck_?

In the background, amongst all the noise of the other students, he heard Cassia's whine, "You know, people would like you so much more if you'd at _least_ try and respect them a little. You just walk around here thinking that you own the place and—"

_Her eyes are… _Luka, even though he was almost afraid to, returned her watchful stare. _They're yellow._

The girl, not having noticed his peripheral observation, continued to watch him as he walked up the stairs to the school. Just before he reached out to pull open the doors, she finally looked away, and then she ducked beneath the trees and took off in the opposite direction. All he saw was the back of her dress before she vanished behind the corner, and then she was gone.

"That was weird," he said, quiet enough so nobody else heard him. He thought, _I swear, Saffron City gets swarmed with all those stupid cosplayers this time of year. We should really contact the police. We don't want them hanging around our schools like that. Ugh._

"Luka, are you even listening to me?" demanded Cassia, shoving herself past the crowd so that she was standing directly in front of him. When he only gave a blank stare in return, she crossed her arms and groaned, "Always in another world. All you care about is your stupid neighbor and your stupid wealth!"

"Don't talk about Nolan like that," said Luka, his voice uncommonly low. At first, he had been so distracted by the girl with the flowers that he had also forgotten his intentions to ditch Cassia, but there was no way that he was going to accept what she'd just said. When he spoke again, he had risen to the verge of yelling, "If you _ever _say anything about Nolan again, I'll—!"

He was interrupted by the bell, and he let himself end there. As the bell continued to gong throughout the school, he gave Cassia his best glare and stormed off. He pushed himself through the halls, finding it increasingly difficult to smother the anger that was smoldering inside of him. Students that noticed his fury stepped aside, leaving him with a vacant heart on a vacant path that nobody wanted to fill.

* * *

"I'm walking home today," said Luka into the phone. "You can take Cassia home, but make sure that she knows that's the last favor I'm ever doing for her. If you see my mother, tell her that she should be expecting me around seven." And then, beneath his breath, he added, "Not like anyone will see her for the rest of the night."

He shut the phone and began to descend the front steps to the school, his hands in his pockets and his eyes set on somewhere far off in the distance. He could see his house, built with red bricks and white columns, from those stairs. The large home stood out between the leaves in the treetops, and because it was sitting on an enormous hill that seemed to stretch out towards the sky, it looked like a castle from where he was standing.

Luka sighed heavily, and then he began to fiddle with a coin in his pocket as he went down the sidewalk. _I'll probably be eating dinner alone tonight, _he thought.

A classmate, a girl from his third hour, approached him with an armful of flyers. "Hey, Luka, do you think you'd be interested in the Mathletes Club. You know, since you're so good at math and you used to tutor calculus—"

He pushed her aside, not physically but with the strength of his irritated stare. "Don't even bother," he said curtly, looking away so that nobody would see them making eye contact. "I'm busy anyway. My…my mother wants me to organize some files for her."

"Oh, I understand, with her business and all," said the girl, her face falling. He couldn't remember her name, but he did know that she was the only one who seemed naïve to his curt attitude. Obliviously, she continued, "Well, if you ever find the time, we'll be waiting for you. We could win nationally with your smarts."

_I remember the day that my mother left my father. She didn't think that he had enough potential. She had the money and the business charisma, and he was only a writer. He wasn't good enough for her. _When he walked away from the girl, purposely ignoring her disappointment, he bit his lip. _And now I'm not good enough for her either. If I joined the Mathletes, she'd only wonder if I'm trying to ruin her reputation._

As he walked, Luka felt that mind was distanced from him. He could hardly focus on where he was walking, let alone who was standing in his way or what obstacles he might have faced. Between the warm pavement and the afternoon sun, the heat of Saffron City was both overwhelming and blinding. He was almost staggering along, searching for somewhere to be.

_What does reputation matter?_

He asked himself that, but he knew that it meant everything. His mother had spent ten years building up her own reputation, putting good things beneath her name and making sure that everyone realized how successful she was going to be. That dedication was what led her to her current state, to the mansion they lived in and the lavish life they couldn't have obtained with Luka's father.

Before he realized it, he was standing before an apartment complex. The building was untouched by the daylight warmth, because no matter where the sun was, there were enough trees around it to keep it away from the light. Nothing was broken, but everything was close to falling apart, and compared to Luka's home just up the hill, the complex looked like an abandoned shack.

Luka craned his head back and stared into one of the gray windows, as if he could see the room behind it. Then he leaned down, picked up a smooth pebble, and tossed it at the pane. The window tittered for a second, shaking from the impact, and then it opened. What was revealed was a small face, surrounded by brown hair, dappling freckles and colorful blue eyes.

"Let me in, apple seed," said Luka, unaware of the affection in his voice for only a moment. "There's no way that I'm climbing in through your window."

The boy at the window grinned and momentarily disappeared. Luka waited patiently, listening to the sound of the wind in the trees and the silence that followed afterwards. Suddenly, there was a loud buzzing at the front door to the apartment complex, and then he strode forward and walked inside.

Like the outside of the complex, the interior of the building was empty and filled with only echoes. As he ascended the stairs to the boy's room, he kept one hand on the concrete wall and the other on the brass railing. For a moment, there was nothing to hear but the noise of his footsteps, but then there was the sound of knocking at the boy's door, and finally the sweet click of the locks turning.

"Luka! I thought you weren't going to come today!"

"Of course I was, kiddo," said Luka, ruffling the boy's hair as he entered the room. "I'm sorry that I was late. I told my chauffeur to leave me at the school, so I just walked here." He glanced around the seemingly empty apartment, and then he asked, "Are your parents here today, Nolan?"

Nolan shook his head, replying, "No, my dad had something come up at work, and my mom just went to the grocery store. She'll be back though." He gasped, as if a revolutionary idea had stricken him, and he started doing a dance in place. "Maybe you can help us make those chocolate-chip cookies!"

"I'll think about it." Luka collapsed on one of the couches, allowing himself to smile as the child catapulted from his spot and onto the seat next to him. "Thing is, if my mother comes home tonight, I'll have to be there. If she does, I wish it could have been any other night. You know that I don't get to see her as often as you get to see your mom."

"Yeah, I know," said Nolan. "My mom doesn't have a job like yours does, though."

Luka smiled again, this time wider than the last. "That's right," he said. "My mom is out making us money so that we can eat and have nice things. Your mom is here, taking care of you so you can be healthy again. That's why I come by as often as I can – that way she can have some days to go out too. I bet, though, whenever you get your own Pokemon, you'll be all better again."

Nolan's parents had been insisting that the child wasn't old enough for his own Pokemon yet. They believed that every boy's first best friend shouldn't happen until the ten-years-old checkpoint. Nolan was several weeks short, and that was all he had been talking about for the last couple of months.

"They'll probably get me some sissy, girly Pokemon," said Nolan, pouting. "Like some stupid Magikarp or Vulpix. I want something big and strong and mighty, like in my comic books!"

"Don't you know? Magikarp evolves into the mighty Gyarados, whose roar can shake the world!" exclaimed Luka, waving his hands around dramatically. He could already see the excited grin on the child's face. "And Vulpix? Well, she evolves into the beautiful Ninetales, whose powers over fire can burn any foe!"

Nolan jumped up and down on the couch, nearly bashing in the ceiling with his head. Suddenly, once he made impact with the couch, he began to violently cough and wheeze. Luka startled forward to help the child, but Nolan only pushed him away with his frail arms. When he looked up again, he was ashen and delicate looking.

"L—Luka," he managed to say through his coughing, "if you know so much about Pokemon, how come you don't have any of your own? Everyone I know that's as old as you has one."

_I remember that my father, in that small apartment that we lived in, had a Golduck. Most of the time, we just let him roam around outside, since we lived by the forest and some ponds. I think that he loved Pokemon more than anything – not as much as me and my mother, but he was obsessed enough. He would tell me everything about them, from legends to true stories to facts. Those tales were the best things I've ever heard._

"I've never really thought about it," lied Luka, looking for something to do with his nervous hands. He sighed, wishing that he could have given his little friend a straightforward answer, and then he said, "Nolan, would you like a story that I heard when I was your age? It's about a king and a monster."

Nolan, who was as skeptical as ever, said, "Is it a true story?"

"I don't think so, but it's definitely the best fairytale that I've ever heard of," said Luka. Once the boy gave him an approving look, he began, "Once upon a time, in the Pokemon world, there was a mighty ruler. He served his people faithfully, making sure that they were the happiest that they could be. He was strong, loving, handsome, and brave, and _everyone_ loved him."

Nolan gave another cough as he leaned against the arm of the couch and listened attentively.

"He was strong, in fact, that there were many bad guys that were looking to take his power, but he fought and won against all of them. However, even though his rule was going perfectly, he began to wonder if everyone truly loved him like they said they did," said Luka. "He got scared of his own people. And then one day, there appeared a villain who was more evil than any of the others."

"Uh-oh," whispered Nolan, widening his eyes. He tugged at Luka's arm, asking, "So what happened? What happened?"

"This villain, who was so bad and so evil that even the _other_ bad guys were afraid of him, made the king sick and tried to take over his body." Luka still loved listening to the story, even though he was already sixteen and was the one who was telling it. "The king got so sick that he couldn't even rule his people anymore, and they started to lose trust in him."

Nolan clambered all over the place, and because he was Nolan, Luka allowed it. "That's awful," he declared, sitting halfway on Luka's shoulders and halfway on the back of the couch. He did a tumble down to the seat, his blue eyes big with sympathy. "I don't know why any villain would want to hurt a king like that."

"I don't either, apple seed."

"I don't think I want to know the end of the story," said the child. Abruptly, he yawned, and then he began to sleepily rub his eyes. Apparently, his energy storage wasn't infinite. "I think that I'll just dream about it when I sleep, and I'll tell you what happened in the end." That was a tradition they had shared since the day Luka started telling Nolan stories.

Luka watched as Nolan began to grow increasingly exhausted, and then he gently picked up the child so that he could carry him to the bedroom. He laid Nolan down on his bed, which was surrounded by at least a dozen or so Pokemon plushies and action figures.

Then he softly said, "I hope that you dream about the happy end, kiddo."

When Nolan only gave a murmured response, Luka straightened himself and left the room, shutting the door quietly behind him. Just as he was picking up his school bag, the front door opened and in walked Nolan's mother, whose shadowed eyes and pale hair made her look older than she really was.

"Oh, Luka, hello there," she said, shutting the door with her shoulder as she slipped her heels off. She gratefully handed him one of the grocery bags she was holding, and he wordlessly took it to the kitchen counter. Noticing the closed bedroom door, she asked, "Has Nolan already fallen asleep? I brought him some new medication from the pharmacy. I was hoping to catch him before he knocked out."

"He was all jumpy one minute and then asleep the next."

"Gosh, it's so hard to keep him awake nowadays," his mother said. "He must sleep about sixteen hours of the day, if not more. I have a difficult time getting him to wake up so that he can eat." She regarded Luka strangely, and then she added, "Funny that he always wakes up just so that he can see you. Maybe I should hire you to stay here all day long."

Luka paused, his hand hovering just over the front doorknob. "I would if I could."

"Yes, I know," she sighed, giving him another odd look. Just before he opened the door to leave, she stopped him and said, "Luka, thank you. I know that you are so busy with your schoolwork and everything, but it really means a lot to him that you stop by to see him every day. I wish that I could there for him like you are."

Luka kept his eyes averted, suddenly feeling very cold and lost again. "I used to know someone like him," he said quietly. "I just don't want him to end up the same way that person did." With those words, he left the apartment complex.

_She's here again._

The yellow-eyed girl was standing in the street below, between two parked cars and some rose bushes, her gaze fixed on him as it had been earlier that day. As he stood there, on the second-story balcony, only having the wind to listen to again, he trembled and clutched at the railing. His head said that she was only someone who was out to get a hold of his mother – a news reporter, perhaps. Yet, his heart said she was more important than that.

She wasn't as hidden as she was before, but she was still blended enough with her surroundings that the only things that stood out were her eyes. Luka wasn't sure whom she was trying to fool, but she was beginning to get increasingly annoying. He felt his anger, which only disappeared when he was with Nolan and his family, arise again. Despite his urging to find out what the girl wanted, he pretended that he hadn't seen her and moved on.

Once he reached the street level, she had already vanished.

_She's only part of the paparazzi, I bet, _thought Luka. He stood in the middle of the street, exactly where she'd been, turning in all directions and trying to find out which direction she'd gone. However, the only thing that she'd left was the faint, but pleasant, aroma of flowers and sweet perfume.

* * *

Of course, his mother hadn't come home the previous night, and so, in the morning, the mansion was as empty as ever. There was no reassurance in the towering ceiling or the chandeliers, and even though he had walked down the marble staircase thousands of times, Luka couldn't help but feel like that particular instance was lonelier than the others.

"The limo is ready for your departure, sir," said the chauffeur, respectfully nodding his head as Luka descended the last set of stairs.

"Just so you know, we aren't picking Cassia up this time," said Luka, fixing his school uniform. He glanced at his reflection in one of the china-dresser mirrors, hoping that, for just this once, he wouldn't see his own platinum blonde hair and bright, bronze eyes. "Nor will we be picking her up ever again. If she calls, don't bother answering either."

"Sir?"

"I'm already tired of her." Luka strode past the man and into the outside, inhaling sharply as he was greeted by the cool air. "I think that she's been taking advantage of our rides anyway. Besides, she lives close to the school. She should be able to walk. Nobody likes a lazy woman." Even though Cassia was quite the opposite of that, he felt smug, knowing that she would be forced to walk.

"Two miles is not exactly _close_, sir."

Luka pressed his lips together so that the chauffeur wouldn't see his smile. "Oh, well then," he said very nonchalantly, as he always did. "I hope she left a little early then."

That particular morning, Saffron looked more suffocating than usual. The thin veil of smog that was curling above the buildings gave Luka the impression that the city was really like an unavoidable trap, a cage in which he was forced to live in. Without his and Cassia's stiff conversation, the atmosphere of the limo was calmer, and yet it didn't feel any better than it had yesterday.

He played with his phone, pressing random buttons so that his chauffeur would at least think he was messaging someone, even though he wasn't. And when there was a slight pattering at the glass window, he glanced upwards and saw that it had begun to rain. If he had been thinking about Cassia at that moment, he would have remembered that she was walking in the rain, but the only thing he could think about was how much nicer Saffron seemed when it wasn't hitting triple-digit degrees.

As the limo pulled into the school, Luka couldn't avoid the sense of foreboding he had. There was a small churning in the pit of his stomach, and whenever he attempted to ignore it, his heart began to beat in his throat. He couldn't explain why he was feeling that way, but as soon as he stepped into the rain, he saw exactly why.

The golden-eyed girl was there _again_. This time, however, she wasn't hiding behind the bushes at the entrance to the school. She was standing right by the staircase, her back and one of her legs against the wall, as if she had been casually waiting there for a long time. Her small fingers were tapping the concrete, her eyes passing over him.

_She sees me. She's just pretending that she doesn't. _Luka carefully shut the door to the limo, not moving until it had driven away. And then, pretending like he hadn't seen her, he tucked his books beneath his arm and strolled to the staircase. Once he reached the bottom stair, he was only feet away from her. He could practically smell the perfume on her, see the darker amber flecks in her irises.

"Oh my goodness, how _cute!" _exclaimed a girl, who was standing right behind him. She just about sprinted to the girl with the golden eyes, whose expression registered quick panic, and then the student turned around and beckoned for some more of her friends. "Look, someone left their Meganium here. I wonder who she belongs to!"

The twist in Luka's stomach returned.

"She's way too cute to be abandoned like that," said another student. She glanced around, searching for the owner, and then she returned her attention to the golden-eyed girl. Extending her open palm, she attempted to coerce her, "Were you left alone here all by yourself? Come on, we aren't going to hurt you. Come here, sweetheart."

That was when the golden-eyed girl turned heel and ran, and she was _fast_. Using only her arm strength, she pushed herself onto the wall and sprinted down its top line, and once she reached the fire escape stairs, she threw herself onto those too and began taking them four at a time. Luka was amazed that, for such a short and thin girl, she was able to exhibit such agility.

_Nothing about her is normal. _That was when it occurred to Luka that he needed to follow her. He dropped all of his textbooks and ran after her, pushing through the crowd of surprised girls and shouting, "Hey, wait, come back!" He couldn't leap onto the wall like she had, so he had to go all the way around, up the hill, and go from there.

The fire escape was still vibrating with her footsteps above. Luka grabbed the railing, pulling himself onto it, and breathlessly ran up the stairs, hoping that he wasn't going to lose his chance to corner her at the roof of the building. After seeing how easily she could jump from the ground level all the way onto the top of the wall, he wouldn't be surprised if she could leap across rooftops.

"W—wait, I need to talk to you!" His breath was beginning to rasp, and he was quickly becoming too exhausted to chase after her. Just when he thought his legs were going to give up on him, he stumbled onto the roof of the building, and there she was, staring at him like always.

She was standing at the edge, only centimeters from stepping over and into her death. Her hands were folded behind her back, and with the wind all around them, her dress and hair was swaying to the side like the tendrils of a willow tree. Her face was solemn, her eyebrows set in a stern line and her mouth pulled in.

Luka doubled over, his hands on his knees as he panted for air. "Tell me who you are," he demanded, but even the lashing tone of his voice couldn't change her expression. "What's all this crap about you being a Meganium? Those girls were treating you like you were some kind of _Pokemon_. And don't think that I haven't seen you following me around. You aren't sneaky."

"I wasn't trying to be unseen," said the girl, much too innocently. Her eyes widened, as if she was trying to get him to understand. "I just wanted to see if you noticed me, and you did. That was probably my mistake. I was too curious. I was supposed to wait for you to, you _know_, but it wasn't happening."

"Stop acting like I know what you're talking about," snapped Luka. "Because I don't. You've been practically stalking me since yesterday. What is it that you want? Money? A crazy story that you can publish in the news about me and my mother?"

"I don't want anything like that."

That was when Luka noticed a shimmer, and he saw that there was a glass iris that shined different colors in her hair. When she caught his eyes on the iris, her hand flew to her hair and she touched it gently, as if it reassured her. She continued, "I'm not here for your wealth or some stupid article about your family. I'm here to get _you_."

"You want _me?_" Luka stepped closer to her, almost threatening her with his cold stare, but still she stood there. She didn't seem intimidated by his glares at all. "Great, is this some stupid kidnapping thing? I'll have you know, my mother and the authorities would search the ends of the world to get me back."

The girl smiled, like she knew something that he didn't. "Oh no, it's nothing like that," she said. "Nobody will even know that you're gone. Actually, they will, but that's beside the point. If we were in any other time period but this one, I would give you a run down of what's going to happen, but I don't have time for that."

_Nobody will even know that you're gone_. Luka's stomach was hurting so bad that he could barely form words. "You're going to kidnap me," he said, immediately scanning for some kind of escape. The only way was down the fire escape, and after seeing how fast she could run _up_ them, he doubted he was going to be able to get away while going _down_.

"Luka, I'm not kidnapping you," said the girl, and for once, her voice exhibited clear exasperation. "Look, I'm going to keep this short and sweet, because like I mentioned, I'm under a deadline right now. If you're anything like you're supposed to be, you're someone who isn't meant to be in this world. Do you understand? You belong somewhere else, and that's where I come from."

"I never told you my name," said Luka. Then he realized how stupid he sounded, after she made all of those other points and all. "Meant to be in this world? What do you mean by _that_, not in this world? I don't belong _anywhere _else but here. And even if I wasn't supposed to be here, I sure as heck wouldn't need to be where you come from."

The girl put on a very serious expression then. Her next words came forceful. "Luka, have you ever thought that you were supposed to be born in another time and place, like you just don't belong here? Have you ever suspected that you were born for something _greater?"_

Luka couldn't tell her that, because then he would be agreeing with her, and that was the last thing he wanted to do. "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard," he said, sounding hesitant. "I told you, I'm meant to be here. I have things to do, people to take care of." His thoughts shifted to memories of Nolan.

"That's not what your fate says," said the girl. She stepped down from the edge of the building, approaching Luka with childish, skipping steps. Her whole demeanor was different from that of her humorless attitude, but Luka suspected that if she were in any other situation, she would be cheerful and radiant as the sun. "In fact, it says quite the opposite."

"Now you're going on about _fate _and all of that." Luka stumbled backwards as she got closer to him. She was much shorter than him, by at least three quarters of a foot, but that didn't mean she wasn't at all intimidating.

"Luka, I'm here for one purpose only," she said, pausing some distance away from him. "I know that you want to run away right now, but aren't you even the slightest bit curious? Don't you even want to _try_ and see what's in store for you? If you just listened to me, I promise that you'll open the doors to the greatest adventure of your whole life."

"A—an adventure?" Luka dared not believe it. Sure, she was sounding like a mental patient, but long ago he vowed that, if the opportunity to escape his mediocre life in Saffron City came by, he would take it. He doubted he could stand one more night in his vacant mansion, without anyone to talk to or anything to do. Then it occurred to him that the girl was probably teasing him, and his anger was fueled again. "I'm getting really sick of this. All I want is to be left alone."

The girl gave a scowl, something that was hard to take seriously on such a delicate face. "Don't try and fool me," she said. "Trust me, I wouldn't be here if you were telling the truth."

_They called her a Meganium, a Pokemon. I obviously saw something that they couldn't. Her weird clothes, her strange eyes and colorful hair…how does all of this add up? _Luka returned the glare, his arms folded across his chest. "And so what, even if _you_ were telling me the truth, what would I have to do to go on this adventure? Pack my suitcase and get on the bus with you, probably to some stupid forest with you and your stupid friends?"

The girl's face didn't change, and that was the frightening part about it. And then, her next words:

"You have to die."

And then she reached out and pushed him from the top of the building.

**End of Prologue**


	2. The Change

**Began chapter: **June 25, 2012  
**Posted: **July 1, 2012  
**Rating**: This entire fanfiction is rated **K+**

**Other notes**: I'm sure you noticed that Alfie is one of the reoccurring characters. There was no way I was going to drop her after everything I put her through (lol.) Read on to see who else will make an appearance later in the story.

If you're one of my older readers, you'll know what I always say before a chapter begins:

**_Read_** – because if you don't, then why are you here?  
**_Enjoy_** – because then I'll feel like a failure if you don't.  
**_Review_** – because I want to know what you're thinking!  
**_Share_** – because I want to lure in some more readers. :3

**PS: **(Also, I've decided to make chapters**_ SHORTER _**but**_ more frequently updated. _**Chapters should be**_ up two times a week. _**I originally planned on there being only twenty chapters, but I'm just going to keep adding them until I feel like I'm done with the story, so there is **_no fixed number of chapters that will be uploaded_**. There could be twenty-five or thirty-five, for all I care.)

**PS(S): **And if you know me, my stories start off a little slow, with just a little plot advancement in the first few chapters. Sit tight and just hold on, and I promise we'll be getting somewhere soon. **_This will probably be the slowest chapter in the whole story._**

* * *

**Chapter One**

_Where am I?_

Luka had never experienced true blackness – not in his sleep or even in the midst of his nightmares. He was fully aware that he had been shoved over the edge of a fourteen-story school building, by some _girl_, and that was what made the wait in the darkness more agonizing than it really was. Actually, if he hadn't been so riddled by his fall, he would have thought it was calming, and then he might have been able to close his eyes and catch a nap.

Sleep was like being alive but being unable to control movement. This state of mind, however, was like limbo in a world that had no light. He felt like he was changing on the outside, but whenever he looked down, all he saw was his school uniform and pale hands that would have _really _liked to strangle the person who killed him.

There was a momentary flash of light, which nearly blinded him, and then there was darkness again. This darkness was not all around him though, just the back of his eyelids. He opened his eyes, and then he emerged, groaning and complaining, into a place that looked straight out of a fairytale.

_What the…?_

There was grass beneath him and the sound of waterfalls above him. He appeared to be in a cave of sorts, because there was black stalagmites and stalactites jutting from the sides of the cavern walls. Emerald gems glowered dimly in the rocks, and when he sat up, he noticed that he was lying down at the end of a long platform, all by himself – or so he assumed.

"W—what is this place?" he whispered, shoulders stiff with apprehension. When he heard voices coming from behind him, sounding as if they didn't want to be overheard, he lowered himself back down to the grass. The speakers were standing behind a wooden shrine, so he could only see their feet.

"Thank you so much, my Lady, for letting him stay here all this time," said one voice, and Luka instantly recognized the girl with the golden eyes. Sudden anger gripped his chest, but when he heard how solemn and sad she seemed, it exhaled itself from him with one, long breath. The girl added, "I wasn't sure where I could keep him safely until he opened his eyes, and I…"

"Thank me not, divergent one," chirped another female. The faint sound of fluttering wings accompanied her excitable voice. "We should be thanking the fates for bringing him to us so quickly. Perhaps, they sense our urgency. And he looks so well and healthy, like what a young man should look like!"

Luka furrowed his brows, frowning at the name bestowed to the girl. _Divergent one? What kind of title is that? _As he remained motionless on the grass, his ears twitched and his tail began to curl closer to him. _Wait, hold on—_

"He seemed _so_ reluctant to come with me," said the golden-eyed girl, the divergent one. She sounded so timid, so unsure of herself. "I don't even know if he'll agree to collaborate with us. I was hoping that we'd be able to give him more time to settle, you know, more time to think about what's important to him, but we can't. We're already out of time. The Shape Shifter's front lines have already destroyed one of our bases."

Luka nearly choked on his own breath when he saw what was attached to his body. A long, yellow tail, shaped like a golden lightning bolt that sparked and charged with energy when he moved it. Without trying to look too conspicuous, he slowly reached his hand up and touched the top of his head, and then he felt the ears. _Oh my god, what have they DONE to me?_

"Oh, Alfie, my sweet—"

"It's so _pointless_," interrupted the girl, who was supposedly named Alfie. Luka heard the bite in her tone, the snap and lashing of teeth. "Anyone who is smart enough would be able to see that the overlord is clearly capable of doing his job. All of this violence and war, it's so unnecessary. Some of us have lost those who are most important to us, and all because of _his_ greed. I'm surprised the Shape Shifter and the other minions are too blind to see what's happening right in front of them!"

_They gave me a tail and ears. This is my 'great' adventure. _Luka stared, in horror, at the clothes that he was wearing. On his hands, he wore black gloves and, on his body, lightweight clothes that followed the color scheme of gold and brown. _I was pushed from the top of a building so I could have THIS?_

"I understand what you are feeling," said the unnamed girl, the one who had the fluttering wings. "I have been forced to watch my own brothers and sisters turn against each other. I was hoping I would never have to choose sides, yet here I am. I did it so I could hasten the end of this conflict. I can only pray that our family will be whole again."

Alfie gave a strangled sigh, and through the bottom of the shrine, Luka saw her turn around. "I'll have to return to the camp, Celebi," she said quietly. "I can't stay here in this safe haven anymore, while my friends and companions are fighting out _there_. Even though I wish I could have given Luka more time, he'll have to come with me. I'm sure that the others have already returned by now."

"Do what you must, divergent one," replied Celebi. Luka could tell by the way she spoke that, like the golden-eyed girl, she was not accustomed to sounding so serious. "I trust you. You know that if you ever need my assistance, my cavern is open to you at all times. Linden and I will try our hardest to maintain peace in this forest."

"Thank you, Time Traveler."

"I will leave you and the man alone," said Celebi. "You have much to discuss."

_I have to get away_, thought Luka. Just as he was planning to crawl away, however, he heard footsteps again, and he closed his eyes and fell back down to the grass. He pretended that it was the noise of Alfie's arrival that awoke him, and again his eyes opened, except this time to her golden irises and the flowers around her neck.

"Oh, good, you're awake," she said. She knelt down beside him and attempted to help him sit up, even though he was tempted to shove her away. When he stiffened, not allowing her to assist him, she smiled and sat back, as if they had just shared an inside joke. "I didn't mean to push you from that building, but I had no other choice."

"Yeah, sure you didn't," grumbled Luka, rubbing his head.

"Before you panic, I hope you know that there is a tail attached to your behind and ears on your head." Alfie sat there calmly, watching his every move, and then she pressed her fingers to his cheek. "Oh, and there are yellow circles right here. You probably won't pay much attention to those. They conduct your electricity – keep that in mind."

"My _electricity_," said Luka. He couldn't smother the anger that was inside of him, and he knew that if she said one thing wrong, he was going to explode on her. "What's all of this about violence and war? I can't believe that you brought me here in the middle of whatever dumb problems you and your _people_ are having. Whatever it is, I don't want to be involved. I just want to go home."

Alfie's face fell. "Oh, you heard that," she said. She turned away, playing with the ends of her dress with one hand and touching the glass iris in her hair with the other. "Yeah, we're in the middle of some kind of civil war right now. There are, like, three different sides and it's just one big mess. It's kind of a long story."

Luka stood to his feet, towering over her. "You want to explain exactly _what _you've done to me?" he asked, everything about him ready to unravel into a tantrum. He clenched his trembling fists at his sides, gritting his teeth and, for once, not bothering to hide the fury in his eyes. "What is this stupid tail for? What have you done, made me a—"

"A Pokémon?" said Alfie, who didn't move from her kneeling position. Almost absentmindedly, she let her hand hover over the grass by her knees, and from her gentle touch came newborn flowers. "That's the basic idea. You aren't Luka the human anymore, but Luka the Raichu. Now sit down, before you pop an artery or something."

Luka reluctantly sat down, huffing the entire way with his arms crossed. Alfie didn't say anything for a long time, so he took it upon himself to shatter the silence. "I'm going to run away from you," he said. "And someone's going to find out about this, trust me."

"Go ahead and try," said Alfie. Her expression challenged him, as if she wasn't afraid to chase him down. "Do you think anyone is going to believe you, yet alone understand you? Not to mention, you're not supposed to be alive right now. I pushed you over the edge of a rooftop, and you fell ten or more stories down to the concrete. You're dead right now, Luka."

The anger was building up even more, but only because Luka didn't have a response to her challenge. "This has to be some kind of dream," he said, beneath his breath but loud enough for the girl to hear. "There's no way that a person could die and become a Pokémon. It's just impossible."

"When it comes to our world," began Alfie, "there are a lot of impossible things. Right now, you're seeing us as we really are. We may be Pokémon, but everything that you humans couldn't see, we have – hands, feet, hair, and smiles. I don't mean to be so blunt, I really don't, but you need to get over your disbelief of this whole thing and focus on what I have to tell you."

_She doesn't get it, _thought Luka furiously, digging his nails into his palms and tightening the muscles in his neck so that he didn't say anything. _She doesn't understand how I feel right now. What if she put herself in MY position, then she'd understand how awful all of this really is._

"Here are the basics." Alfie straightened her back and looked him in the eye, making it clear he had better listen to her. "Our world is governed by the overlord, who created us all and everything we live on. Just beneath him, power-wise, are the higher-ups. One of them is the girl that I was talking to just now. You should know who I'm talking about, since you were kind of eavesdropping and all."

"You're the one who put me there. I just woke up."

Alfie waved her hand dismissively. "And just below the higher-ups is the seeker. That's me. I do important jobs for the overlord, like going way out of my way to retrieve _you_. And you better give me some credit, because I worked my butt off to find you. It isn't easy searching the whole Kanto region for some spoiled kid who has too much time and money on his hands."

Luka regretted thinking that Alfie could have ever been a sweet girl. She sounded dominant, like she was born and raised to give orders. And yet, there was something underneath all of the confidence, as if she was afraid and didn't want to share it. "I'd rather have time and money on my hands than be a Pokémon," said Luka.

"And now that you know who runs this place, you should know what's going on," continued Alfie, not even giving him a second thought. "About a year ago, the overlord recovered from a very...serious disease. While he was sick, some of his higher-ups decided that he was no longer fit to rule, and they assembled these organizations, protesting against his leadership. When he got better, they were pretty mad that he was able to jump back up and claim leadership again."

"Wow. Some disease."

Still, Alfie went on, "And that's where we are now. There are lots of orders against him, attempting to bring him down so they can claim leadership for themselves and construct a new government. And the overlord personally chose _you_ to help us with this war."

"If he's all powerful and everything, then why can't he just blast those people to bits?" asked Luka, jerking his eyebrows up. "He doesn't seem too great to me, if he can't even do that."

Alfie's breath came as a hiss through her teeth, as if she was trying her hardest to exhibit real patience. "He created all of these higher-ups. He's not going to just _blow them to bits_. He's like their father, and they're just the rebellious children. Besides…" She paused, lowering her voice and speaking more to herself than to Luka. "He's still in recovery, after all that he went through."

Luka, behind his lips, bit his tongue until he tasted the faint flavor of blood. "So why does he need some innocent kid from Saffron to help him out? If he's got bases and followers and all that, I don't see why he needed to go and change me into some _lame_ Pokémon." Luka hated using those two words together, but he needed some ventilation. "When can I go home?"

"You can't," said Alfie, pushing herself to her feet. She was trying to sound sympathetic, but Luka could only see his own anger. "Look, Luka, I know how you feel. I really do. But unless you want to be left alone here in the wilderness, you better accept what's happened to you and take it like a man. I'll help you to the best of my abilities, but if you won't take my hand, then I'll let you fall and I won't think twice about it."

"That—" Luka cut himself off, realizing how important she really was right then. She was his only lifeline in this world, the only person who could explain to him what was happening. If he ventured out there, all by himself, he doubted he was going to get anywhere fast. So he shut up.

_I can't go home? _Abruptly, he felt extreme guilt in his heart. _What about Nolan? I promised that I would see him every day until he got better. How's he going to deal with it, knowing that I'm dead and I'm never coming back. _His thoughts were interrupted by a beeping noise, and then Alfie's voice.

"Aden?" she said into a small speaker, her fingers lightly touching something at her ear, which Luka assumed was the matching earpiece. "Yes, I've had him for a while now, I've just been waiting for him to wake up. We've been in the Time Traveler's forest with her and Linden. What was that? Oh, that's what I thought. He moves _so_ much faster than I do. I've tried to contact him, but with no success. Thank goodness he's all right."

Luka pulled his knees to his body, feeling frustrated at the world and wishing he could break something into a hundred million pieces.

"I'll try and make it back without any complications. Yeah, I know you do. All right, I'll see you then." Alfie was about to press something on the side of the speaker, and then she suddenly added, "Oh wait, Aden." Her voice lowered, and Luka had to strain to hear what she was saying. "Yami, is he there with you?"

Luka's attention was grabbed by the name, the way that she spoke it tenderly, like it was something that she never wanted to let go of. With an impatient sigh, he stood up and dusted the grass from his clothes.

When Alfie replied, she sounded like the weight of the world had been lifted from her shoulders. "Oh, that's good then," she said, relieved. "I know that he went on that reconnaissance with the others, and I wasn't sure if he made it back safely or not. Tell him that I'll see him and the rest of you soon. Thank you, Aden. Goodbye."

"I thought all Pokémon had psychic powers," said Luka, unimpressed by the gadget in her hands. Of course, he knew that only a small and select group of Pokémon had telepathic powers, but he was in the mood to be hard to get along with. He wasn't quite ready to forgive Alfie for ruining his life. "Don't you have a trainer or something?"

"I do, but she's on some internship right now with someone," said Alfie. "She left us – the rest of her team – on her great-grandmother's farm. That lady is so old that she didn't even remember that we existed. We had to feed ourselves for, like, a week. Eventually, when we heard about the revolution, we just packed up and left. We don't have to go back for several months."

"Who was that you were talking to?" asked Luka. He watched Alfie as she packed some more things into her bag. "There was Aden, and Yami, and some other guy."

"Aden," started Alfie, heaving something like a smooth stone into her bag, "is one of the leaders of our camp. We haven't been friends for long. It's more of like a mutual respect. He coordinates a lot of the things we do there. Yami and I are closer. We've been through a lot together, and we're practically inseparable." She paused. "Well, except for now. I haven't seen him in a month."

"I didn't ask for your rambling," said Luka flatly.

Alfie ignored the comment, and without even looking at him, she continued, "The other man…well, he went off to Hoenn for some business. Aden says that he's already arrived back at the camp, so you'll meet him and whoever came back with him when we get there too. Even though him and I aren't as close as Yami, he knows a lot about me and I know a lot about him. I respect him more than I respect anyone else in this world."

"Whoever came back with him?" repeated Luka. Even though he would have rather sat back down, crossed his arms, and waited for someone to come rescue him in the cave, he trotted after Alfie. She headed down the length of the grassy platform, walking like she had a destination in mind.

When she suddenly stopped walking, he collided into her and just about knocked her to the ground. "Hey, what's the hold up—"

She shushed him, her fingers by her head again. They were not by her ears, however, but hovering just over the skin of her temples. Her eyes wandered back and forth, as if she was thinking, but then she gave a small, "Mm-hmm" sound and nodded. Her lips were moving, yet she was completely silent, and every now and then she would shut her eyes, as if she was ridden with pain.

"Is it the voices inside your head again?" Had Luka not been in such a situation, he might have burst into laughter at his own joke. And then, his vision blurred and there was the noise of static in his head.

_They're sending them in small groups? _He heard Alfie's voice – not aloud, but in his head. He then felt ridiculous for making such a joke when he was beginning to hear thing in his mind too. Alfie glanced at him, as if she was purposely sharing her telepathic conversation, and she continued, _What are they trying to do? Sure, they've been coming in large packs, but they act like we aren't prepared for something small too._

Then there was a man's voice, completely unfamiliar. _I am only telling you what the Wind Whistler has told me, _he said. His tones shifted from deep to rumbling, and he so clearly enunciated every word that Luka felt immediate chills on his arms. _If there is one advantage to this war, it is having her on our side._

Alfie started walking again, pushing veils of vines and leaves out of her way, and Luka trailed behind her. _But, my Lord, what if they're doing that on purpose? Saying those things when they know she's listening, so that she'll repeat the information to us and we'll be fooled? It just doesn't make any sense that they would so suddenly change to smaller offense groups. Are they trying to sneak into our base? Or are they just tired of sending so many out of a time?_

_That, I do not know, _said the man.

The two emerged into a forest with a canopy so heavy that only several thin beams of light managed to shine through the leaves. The forest floor was dotted with yellow, but wherever the light didn't touch, there was only complete blackness. Even though it was so dark, Alfie seemed to know where she was going, because whenever Luka would stumble over a rock or an uplifted tree root, she would keep walking without any trouble.

Luka noticed that it didn't help that he had a tail twice the length of his body coming from his hind. The large lightning bolt at the end of it did nothing for his balance, so as walked, he had to learn how to use it to his advantage. He also found out that if he rubbed his gloved fingers together, a small line of electricity charged against the friction. He wasn't eager to blow anything up just yet, so he kept his hands still at his side.

_And why did you tell me this information, when the Cloned One is already back at base and I'm out here with Luka? _asked Alfie. Luka watched her feet intently, and when she lifted one leg slightly higher than the other, he did so as well. _If they plan on attacking soon, there's not much I can do from this far away. I'm already exhausted – getting him from Kanto to Johto was tiring enough._

Luka choked, and then he began to cough loudly. "_J—Johto?" _he hissed, close to her ear. He didn't speak quietly out of her respect for her conversation, but because he was afraid that he would awaken whatever creatures were hiding in the darkness around him. Even quieter, he added, "So not only did you _kill _me, you pretty much dragged me from Saffron to—"

_I don't say that out of disrespect, by the way. _Alfie reached behind her and pushed Luka's face away from her. When her palms touched his cheek, he heard electricity coursing through his body. _I just don't think that I'm in the best condition right now, after those scouts attacked me and all. The Time Traveler did what she could to patch me up, but I'm still in pain._

Her hand subconsciously reached up to her shoulder, and just behind her flower petals, Luka noticed that she had a multicolored bruise the size of his fist. It occurred to him that she had gotten hurt while trying to transport him, and despite all of the horrible things she had done, he couldn't help but feel slightly less aggravated towards her.

_Yes, I understand, _said the man. _I only told you because you may encounter some of them along the way. Because they are coming in smaller numbers, Suicune and I fear that they will approach the more underhanded strategy. They will not be so inclined to rush at your base. Instead, they may hide themselves until they think they are ready. Preparation, divergent one, is all I recommend. The Cloned One will receive this news as well._

_Thank you for your concern, my Lord, _said Alfie, and she sighed. When she turned away, it was obvious that the connection between her and the man had been severed. Without another word, she kept walking, her attention in a faraway place.

And then, that was when the man addressed Luka himself. _If I am correct, you heard everything we have just discussed, _he said. _And now you are aware of what kind of warfare we are experiencing right now. In a world like ours, where we all have powers deep inside of us, war is different from the kind that the humans have._

"I—" began Luka, and then he realized that he should probably address the man telepathically as well. Alfie had already caught on to his secret conversation, and she was listening attentively, even though she tried to make it seem like she wasn' , using his mind instead of his mouth, said, _I don't really care how different the war is here or there. It's war, and this idiot girl dragged me into it._

_Careful when you refer to Alfie as an idiot girl, _said the man, sounding amused but stern at the same time. _She has experienced a lot more than you think she has, and that is exactly why I have placed you underneath her care. If there is anyone who can relate to you, it is her. There are several Pokémon who would go out of their way to beat you to a pulp if they had heard what you just said._

_Relate to me? _asked Luka, insulted and more indignant than before. _I don't think she'd be able to relate to me if she tried. I doubt that she's even been shoved from the top of a building and then had to wake up, looking like this. Since I've met her, the only thing she's done for me is absolutely nothing. There's no purpose for what she did. If she's so great, then why can't she do things herself?_

_It was not Alfie who transformed you. It was me._

Luka's heart fell into the pit of his stomach and he felt the sudden urge to slam his fist into a nearby tree, and if it hadn't been so dark, he might have. Unable to feel anything but great hatred for the mysterious man, he shakily asked, _Who are you, then? Why did you transform me? Why did you turn me into…into THIS?_

_My name is Arceus, and I am the one that they refer to as the overlord. _If there was one Pokémon that Luka recognized, it was the name Arceus. Even in the human world, he was revered and respected by everyone. _If I could give you a whole explanation as to why you are here, then I would, but everything is not that simple. All you need to know is that you were brought here to accomplish something very great. What it is, both you and I do not know. The Pokémon world needs your help, and without you, we are sure to crumble into chaos._

_T—that's ridiculous, _said Luka. He glared at Alfie, who had just given him another look. _One person can't change the tides of a war. Everyone knows that. It's about strength in numbers, and—_

_Believe in what you will, Luka, _said Arceus. _But you will soon discover that you are wrong. There is something inside of you that nobody has ever seen before, a virtue that is bound to save us all. Whether is it courage, honesty, or even something as simple as trustworthiness, you have the power to change the course of history. Listen to my words, divergent one. You have much to think about._

Luka knew when the connection had been broken, because his head suddenly felt vacant of any presence. _Did he just refer to me as the divergent one? _He glanced at Alfie, who was humming and walking along as if they weren't in the middle of a war. _That's what he called her. What does that mean?_

"I'm assuming Arceus just gave you one of his little speeches?" she asked, turning a small, budding flower between her fingers. "But you're one of the lucky ones, I guess. He doesn't usually do that for newcomers, he just leaves them wondering what on earth they're supposed to do and they have to figure it out for themselves. I guess he knows the urgency of the war too."

Luka had the distinct feeling that the word newcomers was referring to just him, but he didn't delve any deeper. He figured that, in time, everything that she wanted to share would be revealed, because it wasn't like he wanted to go broadcasting his past either.

"You're kind of a rude guy," she suddenly said, completely aware of how blunt she was being. "Maybe your virtue is kindness, or something along the lines of that. Makes me wonder how you got along with your friends. Whenever I would watch you, people talked about you like you were some kind of king. I just don't get it."

"I don't…_didn't_ have any friends," snapped Luka. _And after I just made the decision to stay out of her past, she goes and says that. This is why people disgust me. _"Solitude is much better, anyway. Not having friends makes you look good. It makes you look too important to get involved with anything." _That's what my mother said anyway._

"I don't know where you heard _that_, but that's one of the dumbest things I've ever heard."

Luka glared at her from the corner of his eye, crossing his arms and wishing that he could ditch in and walk into the forest alone. "Life is easier when you don't care about anyone," he said. "You don't get hurt, and there's never to opportunity to hurt anyone yourself. Nobody ever thinks about how your relationships can affect other people."

"And is there nobody in this world that you care about?" asked Alfie. She hopped over a fallen tree trunk, which looked like only an outline in the darkness. When she turned her head back towards him, he saw the shine of her golden eyes. "Not even one person? Your parents, a girlfriend maybe?"

_Nolan. Nolan, and that's it. I don't even care for my own mother. I miss her and I wish she could come home more often, but it's not because I love her. It's because I need someone to fill her spot, and even if she isn't talking to me, her presence is enough. _"I have a sickly neighbor," he said, shocked that he was even saying that. "He's nine years old, and I'll kill anyone who messes with him."

"Well, I hope that changes, Luka," said Alfie, very earnestly. She didn't sound like she was mocking or teasing him, and that caught him by surprise. "Living in this world is a lot easier when you have somebody to fight for. It brings out of the best in you."

"I won't ever love anyone like I love Nolan," said Luka, feeling annoyed even though Alfie hadn't implied anything through her words. "And I don't care if I have to take care of this war or not, I'll find some way to see him again. He needs someone there for him, someone that he can trust and believe in. If I have to die fighting my way to him, that's what I'll do."

Alfie pulled open a curtain of leaves, revealing the brightest of sunshine. She turned towards him, nothing more than an indistinguishable shape then, and she said, "There, that sounds more like it."

**End of Chapter One**

* * *

**Other Notes**: Introduction. You get the basic idea of what's going on**_. _**I'm really glad that, even though this is the sequel, I can write about Alfie again. Everything about her just makes me happy inside, and it's even better when she's interacting with another one of my favorite characters, Luka.

Aden is new too, but he isn't nearly as important as another character that's coming up. /wink


	3. Meeting the Winged Girl

**Began chapter: **June 27, 2012  
**Posted: **July 5, 202  
**Rating**: This entire fanfiction is rated **K+**

**Other notes**: Mm, some plot advancement, not too much. More characters introduced – you know, the usual for a "chapter two." Btw, I'm really thankful for all the readers that have been either reviewing or adding me to their story/author alert and favorite story/author. I appreciate every single one of you, and it's for you guys that I try and make this a great fanfiction.

**Read, enjoy, review, **and **_share!_**

* * *

**Chapter Two**

"_A—Alfie_, help!" Luka, having no other form of defense mechanism, stuck his tail out in his attacker's face, hoping that she would have difficulties getting past the large lightning shape. The grinning witch Pokémon cackled, jumping from side to side to tease Luka.

Alfie, who was already preoccupied with her own battle, looked back and groaned in exasperation. She turned around so that the Pokémon she was holding off fell forward, and she grabbed his arm and flipped him over her back, smashing him into the ground. Vines came out from her neck and wrapped around the witch's neck, pulling her back and away from Luka. As Alfie choked the living daylights out of her, she used her body to take on the other assaulter.

Luka watched in amazement as she used only the lower half of her body to trip up the male Pokémon and deliver a flying kick to his jawbone, all while using her both her hands and vines to keep the screaming witch in a chokehold. When the male Pokémon fell to the grass, seemingly unconscious, the witch shrieked again and began to glower multicolored hues.

"Oh, no, I'm _not _getting a Psychic attack today!" said Alfie, through clenched teeth. Over her head was suddenly a small army of leaves, which had edges like razor blades and tips like knifepoints. They were glowing blue and pink shades, and when she thrust her hand out towards the witch, the leaves shot in her direction.

The witch began wailing again, and she pulled her witch's hat down and tucked her arms in, attempting to avoid the attack. Alfie, while she wasn't looking, punched the bottom of the witch's chin and knocked her upwards, and when she was nearly airborne, Alfie smashed the side of her heel into her side.

Luka peeked out from over the boulder he was standing behind, wondering if it was finally safe to come out. He saw Alfie standing above the witch lady, her hands on her hips and her expression fierce. "Which of _them_ are you working for, Mismagius?" she demanded in a loud voice, which sounded pretty ridiculous to Luka since her voice was so high-pitched. It was still pretty intimidating, though.

The Mismagius, as she tenderly touched her jaw line, cackled again. She looked at Alfie with such a filthy and underhanded expression that even Luka, who was hiding several feet away, flinched with fear. The witch said, "_Ke-he_, divergent one, have you ever experienced anything quite like your worst nightmare? _A-he-he!_"

Alfie looked momentarily startled, and then her determined face returned. She grabbed the tip of the witch's hat and tugged it towards her, so that they were staring at each other eye to eye. "Something close enough to it," she said. "Now, tell us who you're working for. Which one of the higher-ups has so ignorantly _betrayed _his family for his selfish means?"

_"Aii-hehehe!_" The Mismagius couldn't seem to stop laughing, no matter how many times she tried to squeeze in understandable words between her shrieking giggles. And then, as if accepting Alfie's challenge, she leaned forward into the hat and gave her a wicked smile. "In your nightmares, he will come. That is where you will find him. _Ha-ke-ke!"_

Suddenly, with the echo of her screaming laughs, her body swirled into itself and disappeared with a gentle hissing noise. Only her hat remained in Alfie's hands, but it soon crumbled into ash and floated away in the wind. Alfie stood there, looking stunned, her fingers still clenched as if the Mismagius hadn't just disappeared into thin air.

Luka timidly stepped out from his hiding spot, approaching Alfie as if he was afraid she would startle. "What was _that_ all about?" he asked, turning his nose up in distaste as he flipped some leftover ash into the air with his boot. When she didn't answer, he waved his hand in front of her face and brought her attention down to earth again. "That lady was insane, if you ask me. What was all that about worst nightmares and stuff?"

Alfie pursed her lips, as if she was wondering the same exact question. At last, she said, "I—I don't know." She opened her palm and stared at it, her whole demeanor rigid with apprehension. Her voice lowered to something just above a strangled whisper. "In my worst nightmares, he will come, and that's where I will find him…"

When she jerked her head up and opened her eyes wide, apparently with realization, Luka was so on edge that he nearly jumped out of his skin. "What? Alfie, seriously, what are you thinking?" He stumbled out of her way as she walked past him, and then he began to follow her. "You're starting to freak me out."

"Our camp is only ten minutes from here, so we need to hurry up and get there before we get attacked again," she said, giving Luka just enough attention to tell him absolutely_nothing_, and then she started murmuring to herself, "I have to get this to the Cloned One…it all makes sense now…the bad dreams they've been having…_everything_…"

"My god, you're such a _weirdo_," said Luka, mostly because he was frustrated that she couldn't keep focused on him for more than five minutes. He gave another impatient sigh, and then he grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back. When she was facing him again, she didn't look angry – she just looked scared, and that caught him off-guard. "I'm one of those_divergent _things right? I should know what's going on. What's this about the Cloned One, and those bad dreams?"

"Luka, you—" she began, and then she cut herself off. "We have to get to the camp. Once we're inside there, safe and sound, you'll start learning the truth. I—" She paused again, making Luka very irritated, and she yanked away from him and started walking. "I can't tell you now, but I promise I will. You won't be kept from secrets."

"So you've made an exception with _me_, deciding to tell me everything on day number one that you wouldn't tell any _other_ divergent thing, and now you've decided to stop spilling the information?" demanded Luka, following her at her heels. "You can't just do that. So far, I've learned that I'm supposed to help stop a war and save the world, and now _nothing_. I don't know _squat_."

Alfie's expression looked sympathetic, and she halted so abruptly that Luka kept walking for a step or two before realizing she had stopped. And then, startling him even more, she reached out and put her hand on his shoulder. "I know that," she said quietly. "I know that's the most frustrating feeling in the world, not knowing anything and being expected to do everything. I'm _sorry_, but I have no other choice."

When Luka had nothing else to say, she sighed and began walking again. The words _divergent one _came to mind, accompanied by her face, and that was when he decided that she had received enough trouble from him – for the day at least. Without another word, he followed her underneath fallen trees and through small passages between ancient boulders, weaving between obstacles that usually wouldn't be found in any other forest.

Though much hadn't passed, the journey felt like more than ten minutes. They jumped stepping-stones over creeks, went up hills covered in leaves and even into an underground path beneath a large oak. There were so many blockades to cross that Luka was beginning to become very physically exhausted, and then _that_ made him angrier, because he couldn't stand the fact that such a small girl was more fit than he was.

Eventually, when Alfie stopped in front a massive tree, Luka finally had the opportunity to breathe. Alfie allowed him to stand there and catch his breath for a moment, and even though it was obvious that he was taking longer than she preferred, he decided that waiting was a good punishment for making him look stupid. Finally, he looked up, and the only thing that could come to mind was: _That's no tree. That's a giant_.

The tree must have been thousands and thousands of years old, because Luka could have fit two or three of himself into just one of the uplifted roots. Its trunk extended towards the sky, and to even see its branches and leaves, he had to crane his head all the way back and shield his eyes from the sunlight coming through its canopy. Green moss coated its bark, and there was a thin stream of water circling it, almost like a protective circle.

"We have scouts hiding in the trunk, and yes, they do see us right now," said Alfie, pointing her finger about thirty feet up. "But most of our hideout is underground. I guess, like, hundreds of years ago, this tree was still being used for camps like ours."

She gestured for him to follow her, and as he did, she went in between two slender roots. The space was not small, but the location seemed so obvious that it really wasn't, and Luka was taken aback that the entrance had been there, in front of him, the entire time. The further they went into the tree, the darker and damper it got.

However, there was soon a glowing blue light in front of them, and once they reached the dim glower, Luka found himself speechless again. In the middle of the tree was a pit that went straight downward for who knows how long – but that wasn't the beautiful part about it. There were stones that circled downward into the abyss, sort of like stairs, and they were surrounded by shining mushrooms and gemstones that provided light for the whole entrance.

Alfie turned to her right and began taking the stone stairs, not even seeming to care where she was stepping, and Luka soon understand why. The mushrooms and sapphires were not the brightest of the illuminations – the blue light was actually coming from a pond below, which looked so crystalline that Luka just wanted to submerge himself in it. He figured that, if Alfie were to fall, she would land directly in the water and avoid injury.

_I wonder how many people have purposely tripped just so they knew what it was like to fall into water that nice, _he thought, choosing to stay close to the wall anyway. He figured that falling down and looking like an idiot wouldn't set the greatest first impression.

Faint voices from down below echoed along the staircase, some of them loud and serious, and others screaming and laughing, as if there were children playing a game. Luka walked right behind Alfie as they entered the underground cavern. If it were any other situation, he might have attempted to grab some attention, but when surrounded by unfamiliar Pokémon who have been trained for warfare, he decided that it was smartest to remain close to the one girl who seemed to have the most authority around the place.

Despite the murmurs about her arrival all around, Alfie walked through the passageway, obviously determined to get somewhere or to someone. Before she could get far, however, a man moved in front of her with a relieved expression on his face. "Oh, good, Alfie," he exclaimed. "We thought that perhaps you'd run into too much trouble on the way here."

He had cream-colored, wild hair all around his face, with large ears and an orange jacket with black stripes on it. Something like black war paint was painted around his eyes, and when he clenched his hands into fists, Luka could only stare at how large and seemingly accustomed to punching things his knuckles were. For his age, Luka was tall, but this man was so big that his head nearly touched the ceiling of the cavern.

"I've brought him," said Alfie, looking back towards Luka. Suddenly, all attention was on him, even from random Pokémon that were walking by. "Celebi was kind enough to give us shelter in her cave for a couple of weeks. I did run into trouble, but…" She gave the man a serious look, as if she preferred to talk in private.

The man immediately realized what she was trying to say. "Fair enough, then, but first things first," he said. He approached Luka and, with his hands on his hips, began to inspect him. "This isn't bad. It can't be as disappointing as the other one that we got. If it wasn't for the overlord, hand-picking them out himself, I would fear for the worst."

Luka wanted to retort with something smart and snapping, but once he got another solid look at the Pokémon standing before him, the idea didn't seem like such a good idea. Instead, he nervously waved his tail back and forth, hoping that the movement would translate to, "I'm a new Pokémon, but I'm still a Pokémon, so don't hurt me. See? I can wave my tail too."

"Don't say that, Aden. It isn't the Pokémon they become, but what's inside that counts. The overlord decided to put these two together, and for a good reason too." Alfie was keeping her eyes fixed on Luka, as if she was specifically addressing him. "Aden thinks he's so high and mighty because he's an Arcanine. That doesn't mean that I can't kick his butt in battle, though."

Aden cracked a smile and folded his huge arms across his chest. "Dream on, small one."

Yet, Luka was only focused on their earlier words. _The other one? These two? _He was about to say aloud his concerns, but then someone suspicious caught his eye. There was a young man, maybe two or three years older than Luka, standing with his hand on one of the stalagmites and his lips parted, as if he was in the process of calling out someone's name.

And then he did, "Alfie."

He had dark hair and eyes so red that Luka found himself inching away, and the tips of his nails were even sharpened to what looked like small claws. Even though his smile, which was provoked by Alfie's sudden shriek of happiness, looked like it was carved into his face with a dagger, the way that Alfie jumped into his arms made it clear that she thought he was the best thing that had ever happened to her.

Luka thought of Alfie's words from earlier. _Yami and I are closer. We've been through a lot together, and we're practically inseparable. _He had just assumed that they were best friends, but she was holding his face, kissing all over his forehead and acting like she was never going to let him go. Even though everyone else looked amused and delighted by the reunion, Luka felt himself growing increasingly uncomfortable. _Mother and Father used to look like that, when they were together._

And then, to Luka's surprise, Alfie pushed herself away from the boy and punched him in the shoulder. "You _stupid head!_" she yelled, and then she shoved him away from her. "How could you _do_ that to me? You know that everyone besides _you_ came back from that mission? If this is some stupid prank that you set up just so that I'd be worried the entire trip to Kanto, I swear on my life that you're going to—"

As she tried to swing again at him, Yami put his hand on her head and kept her an arm's length distance. He sighed and rolled his eyes, as if he had dealt with her behavior multiple times in the past. "Oh, shut up, you drama queen," he said, and he glanced at Luka, sharing with him a mischievous smile. "I'm so sorry that you had to deal with her the entire trip here. She's always whining and complaining, isn't she?"

Luka didn't want to admit that he hadn't heard Alfie whine or complain _once_, and that Yami's comment was actually very surprising, considering what Luka had experienced himself. He had been with a girl who seemed to never let anything get to her, who was always honest and courageous. Yet, as he watched Alfie bawl into Yami's shirt and continuously attempt to punch him in the chest, it became clear that she was more vulnerable with him than with the rest of the world.

"You stupid Ghost-boy," she said. "I hate you."

"If you hated him, little lady," said a third, unfamiliar voice, "then I am sure that you would not have rushed back here so quickly so that you could see him."

The man that emerged from the shadows was more muscular than Yami, but much more slender and lithe than Aden. He was clad in dark blue and black clothing, and he had lengthy hair that rested just on the curve of his shoulders. Even though his eyes were also crimson, they were not as intimidating as those of the ghost. Instead, they looked older, as if he had seen and experienced many things during his young life.

"I did _not_ rush back here," insisted Alfie, smiling slightly at the newcomer. Suddenly, her eyes widened, and she glanced up at him with urgency in her expression. "Epsilon! Did you find her? Did you get back safely? Were there any complications? How is she? Is she taking all of this well? Where is she now? Is she—?"

"You are just the same as ever, little lady," said Epsilon, his pointed ears twitching forward. He tapped his finger to his chin, just below his more mature grin. "Why, I think I can answer all of those. Yes, yes, several, good, I am not sure yet, coming now, and you did not get to finish that last question. My apologies."

_Her? She?_

"So you are Luka," said Epsilon, nodding his head in acknowledgment. "I am glad that you were brought here safely. There have been several instances where we have attempted to bring our allies into our shelter and failed. Many of us have anxiously been awaiting your arrival. It is a great relief to all of us that the two of you are well and alive."

"Everyone keeps referring to someone else," said Luka, regretting his decision to inquire about the stranger almost instantly. When it came to this particular group, he wasn't eager to jump into the center of attention. The Pokémon kept looking at him, as if they were fascinated by his ability to speak coherently. "Does that mean that there's someone else here? Someone like me?"

Alfie and Epsilon exchanged knowing glances, and then Epsilon nodded. "We wanted to wait until you were here to tell you," he said. "She was not as easy to transfer as you have been. As soon as we brought her here, she fell into a disturbed fit and would not stop screaming. She has recovered since then, but she is much too timid to speak to. We were hoping that, perhaps, if she saw you, she might come out of her shell."

_Another one like me_. Luka's heart was pounding so hard that he wouldn't be surprised if everyone else could hear him. Anger kept rising and falling in his chest, and he wasn't sure how to react to the shocking news. "Well," he began, very hesitantly, "where is she? When do I get to see her?"

"Is that him?"

The girl that was standing at the corner of a passageway was difficult to take in, not because she was hard to look at but because Luka hadn't ever seen anyone who looked quite like her. She was ridiculously slender but round at the edges – around the bones of her shoulders, hips, and cheekbones. Her hair was like a white cloud on her head, made of spiraling ringlets and voluminous curls that never went past the bottom of her jaw, and her eyes were huge and black.

The white dress that she wore reminded Luka of a ballerina outfit, with the fluffed skirt and accompanying dark shoes. Her face was circular and innocent, but it had a certain edge to it, like she was in her awkward stages but would grow up to become something stunningly beautiful. Then he saw the cloud-like wings folded behind her back. He regarded her like he would a science experiment, slightly horrified but amazed at the same time.

_She's like me. She used to be human too._

"Sophie, this is Luka, the Pikachu," said Alfie softly, like she didn't want to wake Sophie from a dream. "Luka, this is Sophie, the Swablu. Epsilon had to travel all the way to Hoenn to get her. You two can talk for a moment together. I have to speak with the others about what we heard in the forest."

Even though Sophie walked towards him timidly, Luka could see that it wasn't fear that made her like that. Like her face, there was an edge to her eyes, as if she had experienced many horrible things. He couldn't explain what he saw, but the only thing that he knew was that Sophie was _not_ afraid of him nor was she afraid of anything else around her.

"So, they brought you here too," said Luka, his voice flat. He noticed that, since he was standing closer to her, that she had very pale freckles going across her nose. He imagined a golden halo floating above her head. "They call us the divergent ones or something weird like that. And the…the overlord. He talks to us too."

"Oh, you also?" She had a foreign accent, which didn't sound much different from his but had a strange lift and emphasis on some syllables. "I think I was used to it by that point. Epsilon can speak telepathically too. He told me that I shouldn't speak too loudly, because there might be some of those other Pokémon hiding around the forest. He's so smart."

Luka glanced at Epsilon, Yami and Alfie, who had isolated themselves behind a gate of stalagmites. They were talking in quick and urgent tones, moving their hands as they spoke and looking like something very awful was about to happen. He said, "They've been keeping lots of secrets."

With slow and dreamy movements, Sophie glanced at them too, as if the thought had just occurred to her. "Yeah, I suppose they do," she said, sounding like she was in another world.

Almost absentmindedly, her wings began to unfold and fold over again, and in response, Luka's tail began to wave around his ankles.

"Well, I don't trust them," he said, crossing his arms stubbornly. "All they've done for me so far is nothing. Don't you think that they're a little suspicious? I don't know about you, but Alfie hasn't told me much since I woke up earlier this morning. What if _they're_ the ones that we're supposed to be fighting?"

"I don't think so. They're such nice people," said Sophie hesitantly, almost like she wanted to believe him but couldn't. "Epsilon has been so kind to me, and while we were traveling here – took us about a week – he was trying to teach me how to use my wings and everything." She paused and leaned into him, like she was about to tell him a revolutionary secret. "Besides, they're like _us_. Like, they used to be humans too."

Luka's blood ran cold and then started to boil. Absurdly, for a moment he thought about what the two looked like before they became Pokémon, and then he became very angry. "What?" he asked, his tone scarily close to a growl.

When Alfie and the two other men were finished talking, they headed in his direction, and he turned away so that he didn't immediately try and strangle one of them. Of course, he _did _have his suspicions, but the truth was more surprising than he could have imagined. He realized, deep down, that his sudden fury was more likely based on his desperate need to vent than the fact that there had been secrets kept from him.

"Do you know where Aden went?" asked Alfie. "We need to talk about something important."

"Oh, we can talk about something important," said Luka, hoping that the sheer weight of his glare would bore through the middle of her forehead. "Why don't you talk about how you and what's his name were once humans too? What, did you change at the same time that Sophie and I did? Is that why you're so pro-'change humans into Pokémon'?"

"Luka, I didn't want to waste my time on—"

"You know, just because you had a certain fate doesn't mean that you need to go around giving people the same one." The more anger he released, the better he felt. He didn't care that Sophie had let out a small squeak beside him, or that Epsilon's steel-cold glare was fixed on him. "So what, you became Pokémon. You had such a good time doing whatever you were doing that you felt like staying. And what about me? I don't _want _to be here. I don't want to be anywhere _near_ this place!"

"This isn't just about _you_," said Alfie. "You aren't the only one who's feeling what you're feeling. What about Sophie? She's been awake a week and a half longer than you have. There have dozens of transformations before you, and you think that you're the only one who's wanted to go home so bad that you feel sick? You think that none of us have ever felt alone or scared in this world? But you have _us_. We're here to keep you alive and support you throughout your journey."

Luka's neck stiffened to the point where he felt like something was going to break in half. "You—"

"Not every divergent one has had the luxury that you do," said Alfie. Her voice lowered, as if she only wanted him to hear as she simply said, "Selflessness."

_Selflessness? _Luka was rendered speechless by the one word she had given him. He couldn't understand what she was meaning to get across, but the way that she had spoken the word implied that it was something very important to her, or maybe even to him. "Alfie, what are you talking about?"

The very instant that he finished his sentence, there a world-rocking explosion from outside. The entire cavern began to tremble, so violently that there were waves and splashes coming from the underground lake. Luka stumbled backwards, holding onto a stalagmite for balance, and he looked upwards with a panicked expression.

"They're here," whispered Alfie, her eyes just as wide as Luka's. "Epsilon, we—" Her voice was interrupted by another explosion, this one more ear shattering than the last. Instead of trying to yell over the chaos of the crowd around her, she shared a glance with Epsilon and nodded to him.

Aden and Yami had suddenly appeared again, and they both looked extremely agitated. To a group of Pokémon behind him, Aden shouted, "Up the stairs, let's go! We'll fight fire with fire. Take care to not burn the forest down, but make sure they feel your wrath!" As soon as his troops began deploying, he gave a guttural, canine-like snarl and followed them without looking back.

Alfie breathlessly approached the two divergents, her hand hovering over her bruised shoulder. "Sophie, I know you haven't been well for the last week, but whatever Epsilon managed to teach you on the way here, use it to fight back. Try to make it seem like you know what you're doing. We don't want them to realize that you haven't been a Pokémon for long."

Her upper body gave a slight jerk as she touched her bruise, and then, through her winces, she added, "And Luka, pretend that you…" She paused, shaking her head and looking like there was so much more than she wanted to tell him. Yet, all she could get out was, "Luka, it's high time that you learned how to battle."

**End of Chapter Two**

* * *

**Other Notes**: _Life Beyond Listening** speeds up now. Lots of plot from this point on.**_

I tried to keep this chapter really short, especially since it isn't too important. **NEXT CHAPTER UP BY SUNDAY MORNING.**

To readers of _The Passionflower_, I wonder where Etoile, Feilong, and Ever are…hm?


	4. The Woman in the Shadows

**Began chapter: **July 1, 2012  
**Posted: **July 8, 2012  
**Rating**: This entire fanfiction is rated **K+**

**Other notes**: All right, are you ready to get things on the move? Because I sure am. Instead of using pointless fillers for character development, like I did in _The Passionflower_, I'm going to do it through actually plot-advancing situations. Whipee ~

Again, thanks to everyone who's been adding me to their story alerts, etc. I know you're there, you silent readers. xD I hope that I've been uploading chapters that are interesting enough to keep you reading. I made the mistake of slowly uploading _The Passionflower_, and that was a great way to lose readers' interest. Boo for me.

Anyway! As Poofable always says –

**Read, enjoy, review, **and **_share!_**

* * *

**Chapter Three**

Luka vaguely recalled the advice that had been given to him: _Remember what I said to Sophie? Make sure that they don't know you're a human. I'd rather you stand there and do nothing, as if this conflict is too far below you, than act unsure of yourself. Oh, and Luka…? _And then, Alfie's hand on his shoulder and her soft expression. _Be brave._

As he ran up the stairs with the hundreds of other Pokémon around him, he considered what kind of danger he was so ignorantly inserting himself into. The explosion had sounded like a thousand drumbeats at once, and even though he wanted to pretend that the attack was imaginary, he had _felt _the tremble of the great tree and the waves of fear in his heart.

Everything from that point on – emerging into a world filled with chaos and destruction, the flashes and colors of Pokémon attacks, the fire that was burning some of the surrounding trees – also felt like a dream, something imaginary. He came to a screeching halt and, for a split second, could only stare at the havoc around him. Then he realized the ways of Pokémon warfare.

An unknown voice said, "Take your hands, divergent one, and slide them together! And your cheeks! More power comes from your _cheeks_!"

When Luka turned around to find the speaker, he saw nobody in particular. He understood the command to create friction with his gloves, much like he had in Celebi's forest. Staring down at his hands, he hissed, "You better keep my hind _alive_," and struck his hands together, much like using a match to create fire.

Luka heard a great snapping sound, and before he knew it, his hands were smoking and his face was burnt. He coughed and sputtered, hoping that nobody had seen what happened – not because he was so eager to follow Alfie's advice, but because it was just plain embarrassing. Growling to himself, he pointed his hands in a different direction and slid his hands together in a gentler motion.

He saw golden arcs of electricity zipping across the forest, and even though he hit nobody, he was feeling genuinely pleased with himself. _Stronger, _he thought. The urge to survive amongst the battle pushed him forward and straight into the fray. Before he could strike his hands together again, another ghost Pokémon howled and leapt for him.

"A—Agh!" Luka slashed his hands together again, but without thinking, he reached out and pressed his palm to the Pokémon's chest. The ghost's body was momentarily illuminated, and he was sent spiraling backwards. When Luka could stand again, breathing hard and wishing that his life was normal again, he noticed the small sparks of electricity coursing along the ghost's torso.

Amongst the chaos, he heard someone cackling, "What's _this?_ How dare you betray your own kind for these weaklings?"

A Mismagius – the same one from before – had cornered Yami in between two of the great oak's roots. Her long fingers kept him in a chokehold, trapping him against the bark as she laughed at his expense. "_E-he-he, _you have only brought shame to your family," she said, sneering. "The dead need not love the living! Why choose them when your own blood has chosen _us?_"

Yami struggled against her tightening grip, his claws just barely making it to his throat. "You know nothing about my family!" Despite the fact that he was pinned against a tree and unable to move, there was still a sarcastic and very smug tone to his voice. "And I wouldn't hang out with you ugly hags if my life depended on it!"

The Mismagius grew furious, and using her other hand, she summoned a glowing orb of energy and held it close to his face. "Does the name _Malacai_ mean anything to you?" she hissed. Luka didn't know who that person was, but the instant that the name was spoken, Yami's face grew pale and his shoulders began trembling. At his reaction, the Mismagius grinned and whispered something inaudible to him, her lips close to his ear.

Before Luka could do anything about it, Epsilon was already rushing to Yami's aid, so he instead whirled around and tried to keep his focus. A younger Pokémon , a boy with small wings, was trapped beneath one of the enemy soldiers. He was screaming and wildly trashing, trying to keep the attacker away with his extended arms. When he opened his eyes, which were wide with panic, Luka saw the flash of bright blue and the dapples of freckles across his nose.

_Nolan_. He didn't hesitate. Without another moment's notice, he sprinted forward and slammed his palm into the attacker's shoulder. Loud and brilliant sparks flared, accompanied by the sound of clashing thunder, and the ghost Pokémon was blown so far back into the crowd that Luka almost immediately lost sight of him.

When he looked down, the child was not Nolan nor was he sickly. Even though Luka had known that from the start, he couldn't help but experience the grip of disappointment around his heart. He watched as the young Pokémon gave him a thankful nod and then ran back to the great oak, his wings fluttering behind him.

There was another scream behind him, "A—Aden! Aden, help me!"

Alfie was struggling against alarger Pokémon , whose body was dark as night and eyes redder than blood. The scythe coming from his white hair was dangerously close to her, and he didn't look as if he was going to relent anytime soon. Luka knew the bruise on Alfie's shoulder hadn't looked so bad on the exterior but he could tell that, because of the way her upper body was shaking and her brow was sweating, that she was in more pain than she had let on earlier.

However, Aden, who had heard her desperate call, was battling someone on his own. He managed to step back and distract his attacker with a tendril of flames, and he shouted, "Luka, help her! I don't have the—" The Pokémon that he was fighting broke through the fire, and once again Aden's attention was somewhere else.

Luka took a step forward, fully intending to help Alfie, even though she was probably one of the most irritating girls he had ever met. He figured that, if she was going to die anytime soon, that it was going to be by his hand and through his wrath. And then, unexpectedly, something dark but bright caught his eye.

There was a woman – no, a _girl_, a little older than him – standing just behind a tree. She had skin like chocolate, and from her head came tumbling waves of pure black hair. On her black ears, shoulders, and clothing were glowing, golden tattoos that looked like halos, and the whites of her eyes and the red of her irises created so much contrast against her dark face that Luka was momentarily stunned.

She was watching the conflict as if she was too afraid to jump into it. Her lips were so firmly pressed together that her jaw line was tense, and when she pushed her hair away from her face, Luka noticed a golden ring on her forehead as well. Despite Alfie's cries in the background, he was so intrigued by her that he was unable to budge.

"Move, _human_," snarled Aden, pushing Luka so violently to the side that he stumbled and fell to the ground. The Arcanine bounded towards Alfie and her attackers, flames igniting at his heels.

Suddenly, there was another explosion, except this time, Luka was blinded by multiple flashes of white. For a moment, he felt airborne, and then he felt himself colliding into the dirt and leaving skid marks on the earth. The wind was knocked from his body, and he could only lay there, gasping for air and wondering how he could have been foolish enough to mistake a Pokémon for Nolan.

There was raspy laughing, which sounded like the sound of bones scraping against each other and the clacking of teeth. "And here you are," said the male speaker, his footsteps accompanying his voice. For a terrifying moment, Luka thought that the man was standing above him, but then he added, "Since you came to our world, two years ago, my master has been waiting for the opportunity to drag you into an eternal sleep."

Luka heard Alfie's broken voice, saying, "I—I thought that everything was finally…_over_." Her last word came as a wispy breath of air, and then he heard her groan as she pushed herself up. "Your master is nothing short of a coward," she said. She cried out, as if she had been kicked in the stomach, but still she continued. "He speaks to us, only through our dreams. Not once have we seen him here, on the front lines, battling with his _comrades_."

"I could say the same about your precious _overlord_," snapped the stranger.

At last, Luka regained his vision, even though his ears were still ringing. He rolled over onto his stomach, pressing his forehead against the cool dirt. From the corner of his eye, he could see a shadowed figure towering over Alfie, who was also on her stomach and keeping herself propped up by the elbows. Her yellow eyes flashed, and then she glared up at the shadow.

"Your master is nothing short of a wannabe," she said, her voice steadier than her body. "Obsidian was a coward, but at least he—" She made a squeaking noise, as if she was suppressing a more vulnerable noise, and Luka saw that she had been grabbed by the collar and lifted into the air.

"Do _not _compare my master to that failure!" bellowed the man in Alfie's face, but still she did not flinch. His voice lowered then, outlined by a smile and preceding a laugh. Quietly, he said, "We know of _them_. We are aware of their presence in this world, and we may not see them now, but trust me, we _will _find them. When we do…my master will decide their fates."

Luka's skin turned cold, and his entire backside trembled with shivers. _He's talking about me and Sophie_, he thought, swallowing the fear building in his throat. _He wants us gone. The entire enemy army wants us gone._ He was only just realizing how important Alfie's warning – that he should remain inconspicuous – really was.

Alfie's eyes never wavered, even though she was dangling by the collar several feet from the ground. "They may be new, but they're smart and their hearts are good," she said. "So go and tell your _master _this: we know who he is, and we'll stop at nothing to find a way to defeat him. Compliments from the divergents."

The shadow snarled and threw her to the ground. "Your race will _perish, _and the world will never again hear of the divergent ones!" He raised his claws, which were almost indistinguishable, as if he was preparing to slice her into pieces. And then, his hand stopped and slowly pulled away from her. "No, you do not deserve such a quick fate," he said. "You will forever live in a nightmare – my master will see to it."

"Tell him good luck with that," said Alfie. "And tell him that he's running out of originality, because Obsidian's already tried to do that. And you know what happened? I killed him."

Luka closed his eyes and tried to block out the sounds of the shadow's departure, which consisted of nightmarish screeches and winds. Cold gales ripped at his clothes and then eventually faded. When he opened his eyes again, Alfie was sitting on her knees with her palm covering her lips. She blinked several times, and then she finally pushed herself to her feet and began walking towards him.

"You were awake," she said, very simply.

"What can I say?" asked Luka, refusing the helping hand that she offered him. He brushed the dirt and grass from his clothes, and before speaking again, he let out a long sigh. "I have a knack of accidentally overhearing your conversations. Next time, I'd prefer to be left under the tree. I've already seen enough horrifying things today."

"I don't blame you," said Alfie, smiling. If Luka had to give her credit, it would be for her incredible ability to pretend that she hadn't just experienced something completely traumatizing. "Don't listen to what he said, about his master coming and getting you and Sophie in your sleep. He just wants to throw us off, make us scared and distracted. He wouldn't do that if his master wasn't afraid of you."

Luka was so shaken by the man's words that he momentarily forgot his grudge towards Alfie. "But what is it that he wants from us?" he said, hoping that she didn't notice how loud his heart was beating. "Why is everyone treating us like we're some weapon of mass destruction? I'm…I'm just some kid from Kanto, f—from Saffron. I'm not special. I'm not powerful."

Alfie looked at him with the kind of look she would give a child that had dropped his or her ice cream. "Luka, don't say that," she said, sighing. "If…if there's one thing that I learned, it's that you have to believe in yourself and that you _aren't _alone. You have Epsilon and me. You have Sophie."

For the first time, Luka was beginning to feel like he was meant to be there, in the Pokémon world. Despite all of the hatred he had been building up for Alfie, he knew that her intentions really were good. _She must know how I feel. She was a human too. She also had to leave her home and her family to come here. She—_

From behind him came Aden's sharp demand, "What were you _thinking?_" He stormed into the space between Luka and Alfie, looking like he wanted to rip someone in half. "Your hands were free, and while you were staring off into nothing like a space cadet, not only was Alfie _clearly _in danger, but Sophie was risking her life so that we could all escape alive."

Luka had nothing to say, but Alfie sure did. "_Aden_," she said sternly, "don't worry about it. Leave him be."

"Aden is correct, little lady," said Epsilon, the blue glow from his aura sensors fading. He didn't look particularly furious, but he was obviously bothered. Sophie timidly hid behind him, as if it was her fault that Luka was being so harshly reprimanded. "Instead of battling, as the rest of us were, he was so easily distracted. We can only be relieved that Sophie knew how to hold her own and that your attacker was not eager to hurt you."

"I _was _battling!" insisted Luka. "I…I helped that boy! The boy with the blue eyes and the freckles!" He glanced around, searching for the child he had saved, but he was nowhere to be found. "I used my electric powers, and I—"

"You may think that you're the only one who's important around here," said Aden, getting so close to Luka's face that he could smell the smoke in his hair. "You don't realize how much effort we have put into countering this revolution, making sure that you were able to get here alive. The only reason I do not strike you, right where you stand, is because that both the overlord and Alfie have faith in you."

Alfie huffed in exasperation, and she said, "Aden, _please_, can we just—"

"_Silence!" _roared Aden, despite the flabbergasted expression on her face. He pointed an accusing finger at her, and several times, she opened her mouth to speak, but he only interrupted her. "You may be the overlord's seeker, but do not forget, you are only seventeen years old. Only a _child!_ I will not allow someone like him to pose a risk for us. He came here as one of the divergents, and he needs to start acting like one."

"You have never been in his shoes!" yelled Alfie, and when Yami tried to approach her from behind, she pulled away from him. "You don't know what it's like to be one of us, to have the weight of the world on your shoulders. Tell me again how I'm only seventeen, and while you're at it, you can tell me what I did to earn the titles that I have now. Why don't you tell me what my life was like when I first entered the Pokémon world? Then you'll understand how much of staring at nothing I did, how many times I ran away because I was too scared to act!"

Luka, who had no room to express his anger or let the world know how he felt, finally broke. He punched the side of a tree so hard that the electricity in his gloves snapped the bark and nearly set the entire forest on fire again. When they all stared at him, eyes wide with shock, he said, "I didn't come here to listen to your arguing. I don't need to be five years old again."

He stormed away, leaving the scent of ozone and thunderclouds behind him. Choosing a random direction, he pushed through branches and bushes until the great oak was nothing but a distant shape behind him. And then, when he felt like he had walked far enough, he leaned against a tree and slid down to the roots, wishing that he was brave enough to cry.

Luka might have sat there for hours, but time was gone to him. It wasn't until the sun was lowering behind the horizon that there came the sound of rustling bushes, and Alfie appeared in front of him. She parted her lips, like she wanted to say something to him, but she only sat down beside him and pulled her legs to her chest.

Finally, she softly said, "What did you mean by that? That you didn't need to be five again?"

_Don't talk to me_, thought Luka, and he almost said those words aloud. Instead, he took a leaf from the forest floor and began tearing it apart, very slowly and deliberately. "For a moment," he began, "you and Aden sounded like my mom and dad, when they were still together. That was almost ten years ago, when I was still a kid. I left that behind me, but it's with me again."

"Luka, I'm sorry," said Alfie, her hand hovering centimeters above his shoulder. Then, she thought better of it and pulled her hand toward her. "I…I was never good with my parents either. They treated me like I was some kind of disappointment. Whenever someone scolds me or tells me that I did something wrong, I still hear their voices instead, telling me that I should be like the other kids."

Luka said nothing for a long time, because he preferred the sound of silence than the sound of her gut wrenching past. Alfie, who understood that he didn't want to say anything else, leaned back against the tree and listened to the wind. Eventually, she sighed and stood again, turning away in preparation to leave.

"I get your sadness," she said. Her eyes were like bars of gold in the sunset light, her frame solid and her eyebrows set. That was when Luka realized how powerful she really looked. "What I can't understand is why you're so angry at the world. You treat everyone like they're out to bring you down. You don't seem to realize that, even though we pressure you, that we're only here to make sure that you succeed."

"I'm not angry at anyone!" said Luka, too sharply, restraining himself from lashing out at her. On the inside, though, he knew that she was right. "I just…" He paused. "I just don't need your help. I don't need anyone's help. All I need is me, and I'll be just fine."

Alfie gave him a sad look, and she said, "I don't need you to depend on me. I don't even need you to _like _me. But if there's one favor you can do for me, it's to apologize to Sophie. While you were distracted, she jumped in front of a Weavile and made sure that you weren't hurt. She has an open wound, from her shoulder to the other side of her chest. Just…just think of her, please."

_An open wound. _Luka watched Alfie's departure, keeping his eyes on her until she was gone. He recalled Sophie, standing behind Epsilon, as if making sure that nobody saw what kind of injury she'd received. _She jumped in front of a Weavile. She saved me, and I just stared at some hallucination in the trees._

Luka wanted to care, he really did. However, even though he knew that an apology was definitely in order, he couldn't stop thinking about the black-haired girl from the forest and how lost she had seemed. Aloud, he kept saying, "Think of Sophie, think of Sophie", but in his mind, he could only repeat the words: _Lost. Lost. Lost. _

* * *

"I come from Saffron City, in the Kanto region," were the first words that Luka could think of.

Startled, Sophie glanced up at him, as if she hadn't expected him to ever speak to her again. With her dark eyes settled on him, she scooted to the side and allowed him some space, giving him permission to sit down next to her. Hesitantly, she answered, "Lilycove. You probably haven't heard of it, but it's by the ocean."

Luka lowered himself to the spot next to her, mentally hitting himself for not coming up with anything else to tell her. "I haven't ever been to Hoenn," he said stupidly. "But I've been to Sinnoh with my mom and her boyfriend. She owns some corporations over there, like Desmond Co. You probably haven't heard of it, but it's a pretty big thing."

"No, I haven't," said Sophie, the corners of her lips turning upwards in a smile so small that Luka suspected he was imagining things again. "Desmond? That's such a _nice _name for a company. I've never heard of it in Hoenn, though."

"She named it after—" Luka breathed, folding and unfolding his hands in his lap. "She named it after my dad's Pokémon . It's kind of an inconspicuous name, so all of her boyfriend's don't realize that she's still attached to him. She acts like she doesn't give two hoots for him, but I can tell. She says that we have the same hair and eyes. I know that's why she avoids me."

"Is he…?" She was venturing into his past very carefully.

"He's not dead, if that's what you were going to ask," said Luka. Subconsciously, he reached his hand up to his hair, trying to imagine a face that looked like his, complete with the same platinum blonde hair. _Not like it's like that anymore. It's golden, like a brown that's been in the sun for too long. _And, absurdly, he asked, "What did you look like before your transformation? Like, your hair and eye color?"

Sophie looked amused, and she too raised her hand to her hair. "Black. And my eyes – kind of this ugly gray color. They weren't even blue. Just gray." Sincerely, as if she lived to please people, she said, "I'm sure that yours were much nicer looking, weren't they?"

Luka wouldn't have guessed that in a hundred years. Her curls were so white, so cloud-like, that he found it impossible to see her differently. "Nah," he said, leaning back, and then he grinned. "All right, maybe they were. I _should _have gotten best eyes in the class. Have you seen Alfie's eyes? Imagine that, but less freaky. My mom said they're amber."

"Oh, I'm sure of that," said Sophie, sounding so honest that Luka suddenly became wary of her. And then he felt bad, because he was taking advantage of her sincere personality. "That sounds like such a pretty color. But Alfie is just so nice looking herself. The first time I saw her, I thought that she was the cutest girl I'd ever seen."

_Does she have room for a rude word in her body? _Luka couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Yeah, she's _okay_," he said. "Not my type."

"Just look at the way that Yami looks at her." Sophie gave a dreamy sigh, pressing her hands to her blushing cheeks. She continued on talking, and he didn't even register what she was saying until she said, "What about you, Luka?" She pronounced his name like _Luh-ooka, _and because of her accent, it sounded foreign and like something beautiful.

"What was that?"

Sophie twirled several, white ringlets in between her fingers, and she gave him a childish laugh, as if she was saying: _You're doing it again_, _silly._ Instead, she repeated her initial question, "Don't you ever want to find someone that's just for you? You know, someone that you care about?"

Luka didn't feel guilty for letting his mind drift, because frankly, romance was a topic that he had avoided for most his life. Of course, he had adopted some playthings, such as Cassia and every other girl before that. Besides, the thought of being in love with anyone both sickened and bored him. Nobody had ever intrigued him the way that he wanted to be intrigued, and that last thing that he needed was someone to distract him from taking care of Nolan.

"Nope," he said, already irritated by her happy-go-lucky attitude. "That's a stupid idea."

"Well, _I _don't think so." Sophie gigged to herself and leaned back with him, tilting her shoulders in such a way that he could see the wound beneath the bandages. "I think that love is one of the most wonderful things in the world. I haven't seen much of it before. Especially not in my family."

She said those words so casually, like it was no big deal, but Luka knew it was deeper than that. He asked, "What about your family?"

That was when her face darkened, as if she was being reminded of some very terrible memories. And Sophie, who couldn't have said anything mean if she tried, told him, "I _hate _them. I'm not just saying that either. I would rather be locked in a prison cell for the rest of my life than see them again."

Luka was astonished by her blunt confession. He had lots of turmoil, regarding his feelings about his mother, but he definitely didn't _hate _her. Her words seemed so out of place, coming from a girl who looked like an angel and always had a compliment to give. Noticing the barrier that she was putting around herself, he decided to not inquire again. That was the least he could do, as thanks for nearly getting herself killed for him.

"That's all right," he said awkwardly. "I don't even have much of a family to insult. I mean, I'm not too fond of my mother, but she isn't awful. I don't know what to think about her. Whenever she's home, sometimes I miss her, but sometimes I wish she would just be gone for the rest of my life. When she's not busy with work, she's spending all of her time with her stupid suitor."

Sophie was back to her usual self. "I'm sure she loves you," she said, and then she was smiling again. "She must be a very beautiful woman."

Luka thought about his mother: hair that was liquid gold and pencil-straight, dark eyes that looked like the earth. "Yeah, beautiful enough that she can't stay single for a week," he grumbled, and he bit the inside of his lip. "Beautiful enough that everyone takes her away from me, and she doesn't even have the time to ask how I'm doing or what's going on in my life. Yeah, she _sure _loves me."

"She…" Sophie trailed off, occasionally glancing at him from the corner of her eyes. And again, she tried, "She—"

"She doesn't love me," finished Luka. "She stays away from me as much as possible. Whenever she actually comes home, she refuses to look in my direction. I know that I remind her too much of my father. Sometimes, she doesn't call me Luka, but Jerome, and then I see how stupid she feels for doing that. That's how she should feel. She's the one who wanted to leave him behind. I'm just a constant reminder that he's still in her life, and that's why she hates me."

Sophie's eyebrows lowered over her eyes, her face falling into a broken expression. "I'd rather have my parents never want to see me again than repeat every mistake they've made with me," she said, sounding uncomfortable. "Luka, you can't blame her for—"

"I blame her for everything," snapped Luka, who stood up and clenched his hands into fist. Sparks of electricity coursed along the shape of his palm, and the longer he stood there, trembling, the louder the sparks became. At last, his temper broke and there was a large explosion of electricity, coming from his hands. When he turned around, Sophie looked both terrified and concerned. He backed away from her, nearly stumbling over his feet. "I—I have to go. I need time to think."

Luka rushed away from her, back up the stairs of the great oak and into the forest that was so recently a battlefield. Then he was reminded of his own mistake, and he went back into the tree, settling for the top step of the stairs. He sat down and let his feet hang over the glowing lake below, keeping his eyes on his lap.

Not long afterwards, there were cries for help coming from the entrance to the great oak. He turned around, recognizing Alfie's voice, and before he knew it, Epsilon and Yami were running up the stone steps and right past him. Luka scrambled to his feet, following them through the entrance and into the outside world.

Alfie was supporting a young man – probably several years younger than Luka – on her shoulder, her steps slow so that he didn't stumble and hit the ground. The boy looked inexplicably familiar, and Luka couldn't shake the feeling that he had seen him before. His skin was unusually pale, and he had dark, violet hair. It wasn't until he glanced up and exchanged eye contact with Luka that he finally realized who he was looking at.

_Yami. He looks like Yami. _Those red eyes, shaped like those of a feline's, were unmistakable.

Another girl followed them, keeping her distance but staying close enough that she was safe. Luka's breath rose into his throat and stayed there. _The girl from the forest. She's the one who distracted me. _Up close, her golden rings were brighter than he had thought, and her hair was smoother and longer. _She exists. She actually exists. I'm not crazy._

"E—Epsilon, help me take him to the nurses," said Alfie, buckling beneath the boy's weight. He was slender, but a little taller than her, and she was still winded with the pain coming from her shoulder. "Yami, come on, you help too. Goodness, you're so lazy." She turned to the girl behind her. "Moor, please, just follow us."

_Moor. _

"Yami, _please_, can you help me with this kid?" said Alfie impatiently, and she let out a long sigh of relief as Epsilon supported the other side of the child with his shoulder. "Maybe something to staunch his bleeding? I don't think we can get him down to the underground tunnels…the stairs are too steep."

Still, Yami was holding back. He was posed like he was about to start walking forward, but it seemed like he was frozen in time. His breaths came so quickly that Luka feared he was about to start hyperventilating, but all at once, he calmed down and looked the child in the eye. They were like cloned versions of one another – one younger than the other, but clones nonetheless.

Then, Yami said, "Malacai."

**End of Chapter Three **

* * *

**Other Notes**: Of course, Malacai has no meaning to you if you haven't read _The Passionflower. _But, like I said I would do, I will be sure to explain everything. He was so vaguely mentioned in _TP _anyway.


	5. The New Moon's Desire

**Began chapter: **July 2, 2012  
**Posted: **July 13, 2012  
**Rating**: This entire fanfiction is rated **K+**

**Other notes**: Some more plot. 8D We've been introduced to some more old characters. But, of course, to some new readers, they're obviously _new._

I've spent a lot of time developing the plot for this story. Knowing me, you guys are going to get your typical, heart-warming and fight for what's right kind of deals, but that's what I like and it's what I do best – so I stick to it. xD Not to mention (I think I said this in the last story), this is a _K+ _story. What more are you expecting than the power of friendship and love? Zip.

But—! No heartwarming piece of fiction is good without a solid storyline. It's typical, yes, but it's kind of hard to work around these legendaries, even though it's very fun to write about them and their roles.

Anyway. **Read, enjoy, review, **and **_share!_**

_(Friday the 13th. Is this an unlucky chapter?)_

* * *

**Chapter Four**

"I've heard an offhand comment about him every now and then," said Alfie, whose hand was pressing against her heart and whose voice was soft and gentle. She glanced at Luka, and then before he could meet her eyes, she looked away again. "Malacai, I mean. We couldn't have guessed that he would end up with the others, fighting against us in the revolution."

They were keeping their distance from the wounded child, who was fitfully sleeping in one of the beds. Yami was kneeling at the bedside, his hands folded in front of him and his forehead hovering over Malacai's chest, almost like he was praying. The lights were dimmed, and Luka was sure that him, Alfie, and Yami were the only ones still awake.

"He looks too young," said Luka, crossing his arms. He couldn't help but feel some sympathy for Yami, because it if had been him and Nolan in that situation, he would have been doing the same thing. "Why on earth would he be recruited into something like that? He doesn't look old enough to be fighting."

"I'm not concerned about that," said Alfie. "Pokémon begin battling at a very young age. I wouldn't be surprised if Malacai had years and years of experience beneath his belt. What I'm worried about is his motives for bringing down the overlord. He probably hasn't been exposed to many politics in his lifetime."

Luka thought about her words for a moment. "Maybe we could ask the girl who came with him," he suggested. "Moor, I think her name was. She could probably tell us why she brought him to your camp, or maybe even why he was in that battle in the first place."

Alfie shook her head. "No, we can't," she said. "Moor and I have met before – about a year and a half ago. She can't tell us, because she's a mute. She communicates to people by executing a complicated series of hand movements, but the only one who could understand her was her friend, Lu, and we have no clue what happened to her."

_She can't talk? _Luka glanced at the girl, who was fast asleep, two beds away from Malacai. Her hair was so long and so thick that she could have used it as a blanket. "Nobody has ever tried to learn her sign language?" he asked. "She could tell you guys lots of useful things."

"No, I don't think anyone has." Alfie was biting her nails, her eyes filled with concern and conflict. "I didn't know much about Moor back then, but I know she didn't have any harsh feelings against the overlord. She and Lu tried to help us, when we were…never mind. That's why I'm so confused. For one, she had both a companion and a trainer. What happened to them?"

Despite his curiosity for Moor, Luka had to question, "How do you even know she's trustworthy? Sure, she might have helped you in the past, but loyalties change." He couldn't ignore the feeling of suspicion he had for the two newcomers. Something just didn't seem right. "Maybe she's one of that man's spies. Like, maybe she was sent here to get some valuable information."

"She brought Yami's little brother to us," said Alfie. "Injured, but he's still alive. And it isn't like Moor would be able to spill any valuable secrets anyway, unless someone's taken the time to learn how to speak her language. But I'll agree with you – everything about her is suspicious at this point. Lu is missing, and unless Ethan also dumped his Pokémon at his great-grandmother's house, I doubt that they're supposed to be gone. Not to mention, if you're right, she was present during the battle in the forest. I know for a fact that she wasn't in our troops, which means she must have either been an observer or battling against us."

"I _am _right, said Luka irritably. "She's the reason I was distracted. She was standing behind the trees, just looking at what was happening."

Alfie exhaled loudly, puffing her breath out from her blown-up cheeks. "I guess we'll just have to see what happens then," she determined, standing from her seat. "Until we find evidence that they're completely innocent, we'll be keeping more secrets than usual. I trust Moor, and I know that Yami trusts his own brother, but we can't be sure. Just keep an eye on them."

She quietly approached Yami from behind, and then she placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. They began speaking in low undertones to one another, repeatedly glancing at the child that was sleeping in the bed. Several times, Malacai stirred in his sleep, and Yami would put his hand to the boy's forehead, as if comforting him through his dreams.

When Luka turned around, there was a man standing not far from him, and he startled. The man was standing with his arms folded behind his back, and though he was hidden in the shadows, the bright violet of his irises was the only thing that came through the darkness. His eyes slightly shifted, looking towards Luka, and then his attention returned to the two newcomers in their beds.

"Who are you?" asked Luka warily. He sidestepped past the stranger, keeping an eye on his silver hair and emotionless expression.

When the man's voice came, it was not through his mouth but his mind. _As you are suspicious of the dark ones, you are suspicious of me as well. _He sounded amused, but his face still hadn't registered any emotion whatsoever. _I cannot blame you. These are conflicted times. Perhaps, your natural wariness of people, whether they are human beings or Pokémon , is a habit well adopted. I am not here with malicious intentions, however, only to observe._

"Well, your observing is creeping me out," said Luka, making sure that he kept a reasonable distance from the man.

_Well then, _said the man, and he finally focused on Luka, who was beginning to feel extremely disconcerted. _You should be the person who tells me what is happening. I understand that these two were discovered in the forest earlier this evening. One of them, the child, was injured and was determined to be Yami's younger sibling. The woman, I have heard, was well maintained. Are these facts correct?_

"Uh, yes."

_I thought so. _The man's arms came out from behind him and folded over his chest._ The woman. Some will be against her, others will choose to trust her. I am open to anything. If she gives any reason to make me believe that she is not here with good intentions, than I will be inclined to send her back to where she came. The boy, on the other hand, I believe should not escape from our close observation. Make sure that you watch him. I do not trust his older brother, who has been so disturbed by his sudden appearance, to make proper judgments._

Luka, who was so accustomed to hearing Alfie give the order_s, _gave an annoyed look. "And so? What makes you think that?" He felt the urge to refuse the man's orders, but there was something about the way he spoke and carried himself that made it obvious he was not exactly what he seemed.

_Do you see the way that he tosses and turns in his sleep? Not in any normal way, but more fitfully than anyone who is having a nightmare? _When Luka nodded, the man continued. _He is exhibiting proven evidence that his dreams are being toiled with. We have seen this happen several times before, and when we left it untreated, those who had those dreams went missing in a matter of days. Some of them never to be seen again, some of them seen days later, battling against us._

"You mean, there's somebody messing with him in his sleep?" asked Luka, forgetting for a moment that he didn't trust the man and would have preferred to stealthily creep away from him. Then something, at that moment, occurred to Luka. "When Alfie and I were in the woods, there was this witch Pokémon , who kept saying that _he_, whoever he _is_, would come to us in our nightmares. Is that what's happening to Malacai?"

The man was silent for a minute. _None of us have discovered a method of treating this. All this time, we have been wondering who has been behind this. We considered an army of Pokémon with the attack Dream Eater, but once Alfie came back with news of the witch, we found out that the answer has been beneath our noses the entire time. We have been foolish. But now…now that we are aware of the enemy's name, we can move. The time to act is now._

Luka's sense of foreboding grew and pulsed in his stomach, like a spreading disease. "You mean that…?" He glanced up, and then he furrowed his brows in confusion.

The man was gone. There was absolutely no trace of him, no reason to believe that he had existed. Luka leaned back against the stone wall, and when he peered inside of the bedroom cavern to check up on the newcomers, he noticed that Alfie had disappeared without him realizing it. Yami was still leaning over his brother, and Moor was still fast asleep.

Grumbling about how all Pokémon had a knack for rudely disappearing, he left the corridor and decided that he wanted to get some fresh air before going to sleep. From the bottom of the tree, he could see the moonlight outside, the glower of the stars shimmering on the lake surface. He took his time walking up the stairs, knowing that he was alone.

As soon as he reached the entrance of the great oak, there was a whistling sound coming from outside, along with additional voices. He had a feeling that the speakers were trying to keep their conversation secret, or at least inconspicuous. Instead of barging out there, like he _should _have, he crept along the sides of the uplifted roots and listened carefully.

"I haven't seen you since you took me to the Hall of Origin, Suicune," came Alfie's voice.

When Luka peered around the corner of the root, he saw the most breathtaking example of beauty he had ever seen. The woman, who had her slender hands on Alfie's shoulders, was like watching moonlight in motion. Her violet hair defied gravity, floating around her face as if she was beneath the ocean, and her nearly translucent robes shimmered different shades of white and blue as she moved. The strangest part about her was the blue crest coming from the top of her head.

_Wait, what was that about the Hall of Origin? And Suicune? THE Suicune?_

"You have grown so much since then," said Suicune, each syllable accompanied by wind songs. "You were only a child, but now you are a woman. The honorable deeds you have accomplished in between now and then are superior to that of anyone else's. You truly are a hero, my dear. I must admit, when I was taking you to that accursed place, I could not have expected how much of a legend you would become, despite my faith in you from the start."

"Yeah, well," began Alfie, a frown lining her voice. "I don't feel like much of a hero now. I mean, now that we know whom our enemy is, I feel more helpless than ever. I shouldn't feel like that. I should know what I'm doing, right? But the thing is – I don't. I have no clue where to start, what to do, how to help Luka and Sophie get to where they need to be."

"You may be a hero, but you are also a leader," said Suicune. "And every leader has moments where they stumble, when they do not know where their path is going to take them. You cannot be blamed for this. Darkrai has concealed himself so well. So excellently, in fact, that not even the overlord was aware of his betrayal. We have been aware of his rising hatred for Arceus, but we could not have guessed what numbers he would influence to cause a revolution."

_Kudos to the all-seeing overlord, _thought Luka sourly.

"But how can I be an example for Luka and Sophie when I'm as lost as this?" asked Alfie, her tone desperate and almost hopeless. "I thought that I had prepared myself for this, but I didn't. _Nothing _could prepare me for taking on the job of leading two divergents, who aren't even _one_ year younger than me, to success. When I agreed to the overlord's terms to becoming a Pokémon again, I didn't know all of this was in the job description."

Between Alfie and Suicune, there was an extended pause. "You are following the same footsteps as Epsilon," Suicune finally said. "When he became the overlord's seeker, he assumed that he would only be doing on and off missions for him. And then, when you came along, he selflessly adopted you as his own. Now, it is your turn to do the same, but for Luka and Sophie. It is your turn to lead, to remind them of the great destiny that is in store for them."

"I…" Alfie stopped, and then she sighed. When she talked again, her voice was steadier. "You're right. Just like I believe in them, I want them to believe in me too. I want to be their leader. And whether they stay in the Pokémon world or not, I want them to remember me and use what they've learned to the best of their abilities."

When Luka peered around the corner of the root again, he saw Suicune's smile as she said, "That is the Alfie I know. And just like you have changed, they will as well. They need time. They have not even been in our world for two weeks. Let them grieve and vent, and they will eventually come around."

"I sure hope so," said Alfie, sounding doubtful.

They exchanged words for a couple more minutes, but Luka didn't hear any of it. Not like he wanted to. The only thing he was interested in was Alfie's words: _And whether they stay in the Pokémon world or not. _Did that mean that there was the possibility that he could go home again? Nobody had mentioned anything like that to him. Soon, he was feeling rather agitated.

As soon as Alfie turned the corner to the entrance of the tree, he surprised her with, "What's that about going back to the human world? You never said anything about that." His words were accompanied by his accusing glare and folded arms.

"What's this, the third time that you've been listening to my private conversation?" she asked, looking bothered. Her strangled words indicated that she was only just then swallowing a scream, which had been provoked by his sudden appearance. "Goodness gracious, you should be one our spies."

"I—I was sitting on the steps, so I could have some time to think," said Luka, as if insulted that she would accuse him of anything like that. When met with her unchanging expression, he sourly added, "It's not like I was trying to eavesdrop. You guys were talking loudly. But that's not the point. The point is: you're still hiding secrets from me."

Alfie sighed, obviously exhausted by everything. "Luka, you're going to learn that sometimes, there are things that you just shouldn't know," she said. "Like the fact that me and Epsilon were, you _know_. That wasn't important either. What's important is you, Sophie, and the enemy."

"I want to know if I can return to the human world," said Luka, unwavering.

The two stared at one another until there was a chirping sound from the trees, and then she sighed again. "_Yes_, you would have the choice to go home if you wanted to," she said, and before Luka could interrupt her with his own opinion, she added, "_But—_! You can't go home until you've fulfilled what you're supposed to do in _our_ world. Until that happens, you have to stay here."

Luka's hopes fell. "Are you _kidding?" _When, still, she didn't relent, he tangled his hands in his air and groaned. "That's like cheating, or blackmail or something. So I can't leave until I do your guys' job for you? If you ask me, you and your overlord are more underhand than everyone thinks you are."

"It's not blackmail," said Alfie seriously. "The overlord is giving you a chance to accomplish whatever you were meant to do. The overlord doesn't merely pluck out divergents from a crowd of people. It's not about luck of the draw or something like that. You're an incomplete person, but while you're with us, you're better – and he knows that. In exchange for your help, he's giving you a reason to _be _someone."

"I was perfectly _fine _with my life until he came around," said Luka sharply. "I had a big house, lots of money, and _everyone _wanted to be me. I was in _control _of everything around me, but now I'm not anymore. Now, I have to do whatever _you _guys want me to do and I have to do it according to _your _schedule. I'm no longer in control. I'm just your stupid pawn, the guy that was chosen to help the world fix something that wasn't my fault."

Alfie looked sad again, like she always did whenever he approached this subject. She said, "You have a choice, Luka. You can help us and become a human again. Nobody will know that you were ever gone, and you can return to the life you had, filled with money and superficial things. Or you can choose to ignore us, and you will never again return to your world again."

Luka could only stand there, breathing angrily at her.

"You may have been a handsome guy on the outside. Blond hair, amber eyes…" Alfie touched his face, her small fingers trailing a path down to his heart. "But in here, you're someone who is very cold and selfish. _Incomplete_. Besides your neighbor, you've never been given a reason to care for anyone, never been given a reason to care about the feelings of others."

Impatiently, Luka swatted her hand away. "Don't touch me."

"You and Sophie are very similar," said Alfie. "She has only experienced the most horrible of things the world could give to her. On the outside, she's a warm and personable girl that only wants to please those around her. But on the inside, while _you _are only selfish, she harbors a vile hate for the world. Her hatred for everything has caused her to isolate herself from everyone, and she has become withdrawn."

_I can't see Sophie hating anyone. _And then, Luka remembered how spiteful her tone had become when her parents had been mentioned. _Her parents…what have they done to her to make her so deceptive? _His had left him untouched for years, like something forgotten and left in a corner to gather dust. What if her parents had done the same thing, or even _worse?_

"I want to help you and Sophie, and so does the overlord," continued Alfie. "While Arceus believes that you and her will change in time, I realize that it's also the actions of those around you that will bring you into the world again. You need people to lean on, people to trust and people to love. I have been so patient with you two, tried to explain that I'll always be here for you guys. But I can't get into your hearts unless you _let_ me in."

Just as Luka was about to retaliate with another remark, Alfie spoke again. "I hope you keep that in mind," she said. "Open up to others. Allow those who care for you into your life."

Luka couldn't stand how condescending she was, how she made him feel like he was below her. _I don't need anyone lecturing me on the emotions of people, _he thought, nearly trembling with anger. _I don't need someone to tell me that everyone around me cares about me. As if. I've learned differently, through good and trustworthy experience. _

"Let me tell you something," said Alfie, taking note of his silence. "Since about a month after I saved the overlord from his sickness, Pokémon began having strange and horrible dreams. Some have perished and others have disappeared entirely. Families have been torn apart, individuals have lost their minds. This whole event is just an unusual, but very tragic, story. For a year, we have been struggling to find the answers, to discover a way that we can triumph against evil again."

She kept going, "And we're halfway there. Our enemy's name is Darkrai, the New Moon, and unless he's stopped, he will amass an army large enough to overwhelm the rest of the higher-ups and eventually bring down the overlord, who is still in a weak enough state that he won't be able to fight back. Our entire world will then be left to a man that is only governed by his need to control. He's used children as his scouts, taken loved ones from their families…But now, we have you and Sophie."

Luka's anger was momentarily directed to Darkrai, but only because he was the primary reason that he was forced to become a Pokémon . Alfie words almost didn't reach him, and then he considered what he would feel like if Nolan had been influenced into the same fate as some other Pokémon children.

"If you don't care, then there's nothing I'll be able to do for you. If you're ever going to help us and return to the human world, you _have _to care. You have to exert the will you'll need to get to where you need to go. You have to be strong and brave. Most of all, you need to consider everyone around you, because if you don't, you'll end up losing yourself, not knowing what's right and what's wrong."

When Luka _still _didn't respond, Alfie rubbed her arms and said, "You can think about what I've told you, but until then, I'll consider you only someone who is broken. Though I still want to help you, you've done nothing to earn my or anyone else's respect." She glanced away from him, looking more disappointed than ever. "Good night, Luka. I'll see you in the morning."

She walked past him and into the great oak, her footsteps echoing on the stairs for some time before fading away. Luka was left there, alone with himself in the nighttime forest, to calm down and contemplate her emotional words. He couldn't stop thinking about how Alfie had pointed out that Sophie was the same as he and how there was a way to defeat Darkrai.

_So what if I join her? _Luka thought, still aggravated. _What will we do, go on some wild goose chase? Place ourselves into life-threatening situations, just so Sophie and I can go back to the way things were? If we hadn't been transformed in the first place, we wouldn't have to go through this dumb war. I'm not broken, nor am I incomplete. I'm just FINE._

And yet, there was still nothing more that he wanted than his extreme desire to just go home.

* * *

Along the broken windows and corners of the seemingly abandoned room, there was nothing but darkness. Shredded curtains softly billowed with the wind, and there were strange scuttling sounds along the plaster walls and molded wood beams. Yet, in the middle of the ruin, there was a small glower of light, a little warmth and hope.

Darkrai could not _stand _it.

The New Moon saw the flickering light from the corner of his eyes, which he narrowed as he whirled around. With his potent glare, he forced the dimming light back into the darkness. Satisfied, he folded his hands behind his back and said, "Alas, that only proves how weak you have become, my prince. How do you fair, in that cage of yours?"

Sitting on a black pedestal was a cage with steel bars, and behind the imprisoning beams was a child. Moss green eyes, which were filled with the innocence only a youngling could have, stared up. His golden headdress was shining, and at each of the three tips was a pale green tag that also flowed with the wind. His infant-sized hands clutched at the bars, his expression sad and forlorn.

"You are lucky, you know Jirachi," reminded Darkrai. "I could have forced you to grant me those wishes. Instead, I have decided to be on the more cordial side, and I have patiently waited for the new millennium to begin. Think of it, young one. You could have been beaten mercifully, losing your integrity along the way. I am sure that being imprisoned within a cage for twenty years was not quite so bad."

"Despite your crimes, you are still my brother," said Jirachi, his already pale hands becoming ever whiter as he strained against the steel bars. His voice was soft and high-pitched, like a young boy's voice would sound like, but he spoke with mature undertones and even more mature words. "And as long as I know that there is some way to bring you into the light once more, I shall never give into you. Stars can wait for much longer than you think."

Darkrai nearly knocked the pedestal over, but he kept his calm. "You _will_ grant me my wish," he snarled, getting his face very close to the cage, "unless you want me to open your third eye _myself."_

Even when pressured, Jirachi's tone remained steadied. "I firmly believe that you and the Shape Shifter have only taken the wrong path," he said. He sat back against the cage, far away from Darkrai's threatening stare. "Those who have been following your trail for centuries have redeemed themselves and are now beneath the overlord's good favor once more. Why do you not accept redemption? Why do you continue to resist him?"

Darkrai's temper exploded. He shoved the pedestal away from him, not even caring when Jirachi's stifled cry came out from the broken tiles. The cage rattled as it rolled along the floor, and then it eventually came to a jarring halt at the corner of the room. "Who loves a lord that has hidden from us for a millennia? Who can love a lord that folded into his own selfish desires, one that chose to save himself when he should have been ruling us?"

"Your _words_ are selfish!" cried out Jirachi, his light becoming even dimmer. "How can you not realize what Arceus has endured, all so that he could postpone his ultimate demise and Obsidian's rule? He has withstood a millennia's worth of pain so that our world could be as it was once again, and now, the only thing that tarnishes and _spoils _our kingdom is _you_."

"I shall bring the kingdom to prosperity!" said Darkrai. He stood there, breathing heavily, and then he stormed over to the cage, picked it up by the handle, and slammed it against the wall. When he figured that Jirachi had dealt with enough of his temper, he quietly rearranged the pedestal and set the cage upon its surface.

"That is what Dialga said." Jirachi wiped the corner of his lip, which was painted with a small smear of blood. "You say that the Master of Time was an ugly, horrible creature that did not deserve to be any brother of yours. But you are worse than he! He wanted to change the world for the better, but because of his mind control, he did not know what he was doing. You are entirely aware of your actions."

"I am not weak, like the Master of Time was," said Darkrai, "nor am I as reckless as Obsidian was. I have spent decades planning the overlord's downfall. Over the years, I have invested my powers into influencing the dreams of those I control, and now I have a legion twice the size of the overlord's. Soon, his ranks will fall and then his higher-up subjects – my so called _brothers _and _sisters _– and then he shall be open for defeat."

Jirachi looked sickened to his stomach. "My wishes shall not be granted to someone who wants to use them for nothing but chaos," he said. His breath quickened as Darkrai shot him another intimidating glare, but he remained still. "I hope that you are cleansed, brother. You are the link in the bond between the higher-ups. You and the Shapeshifter."

"The Shapeshifter has loyally remained by my side!" exclaimed Darkrai, his voice echoing along the mostly vacant halls of his palace. "You will see. You will see that sheer strength shall overcome a hundred thousand years of royalty. Arceus, though we are no more related than water and fire, will fall to his sons. His daughters will weep as we storm his dimension and force him to surrender. Soon, he shall bow at _my _feet, and the Pokémon kingdom will see who is truly fit to be the ruler."

Darkrai swept towards the balcony, pushing past the torn curtains and into the humid air. _The Full Moon is high, and yet I do not see my true sister, _he thought. _I have searched the dreams and hopes of young children, aspiring younglings and those with high praises in their future, and yet she is unattainable._

He looked towards the sky, his hands on the iron railing of the balcony. The full moon was, indeed, floating far above his head. _I will find you, _he mentally told the moon. _And when I do, your power shall be drained from your body and you will no longer have the power to rid of me at your disposal. For your sake, sister, you had better remain in hiding, because it shall not be long until you are dragged down from the sky and buried in the ground._

**End of Chapter Four **

* * *

**Other Notes**: Meep.


	6. The Undiscovered Legends

**Chapter Five**

"There has to be some way out of this stupid, old tree," said Luka beneath his breath, pushing his way through crowds of Pokemon as he went through the underground corridors.

For every hall and room that he found, there seemed to be a hundred more undiscovered. Ever since his midnight words shared with Alfie, he had been unable to leave the great oak without an assigned chaperone at his side. He hadn't been able to see the light of day for nearly a week now, and he was beginning to grow agitated.

He stopped in his tracks, remembering a small detail that had been forgotten for several days. He was thinking so hard that he didn't even turn around and snap at a Pokemon that had just stumbled into his shoulder.

In the main hall, the one right beside the stairs and the pond, there was this room that always seemed to be guarded. Luka had harbored suspicions for a while now, but at that particular moment, his sense of curiosity was just _itching_ to explore what was past the wooded, makeshift doors. However, Aden or another equally intimidating Pokemon was usually patrolling the area, and Luka was unable to get anywhere near it.

Daring to test his chances, though, he ended up ambling towards the main hall. The very first thing he thought when he got there was: _Oh, you have got to be kidding me. This is a great day._

"No, no, don't go anywhere _near_ those ice-types," said Aden's voice. He was at least a good fifteen feet from the door, facing another one of his freakishly buff comrades. "What? _Why? _Because they'll have you standing in their hallway as a pretty ice sculpture before you can—"

Luka almost rolled his eyes, but he resisted. Hoping that nobody would blow his cover, he casually strolled towards the door, pretending that he was admiring a passing group of girls. When he was literally standing just behind Aden, close enough to practically smell the smoke curling from his clothes, he looked both ways ("What do you mean, you like the _water-types? _They're worse than sirens and will have you drowning in no time—") _and_ then slipped into the corridor.

When he the door behind him, he regretted it instantly. The hall was pitch black, with no source of light save for a dim glower in the distance. The atmosphere was cool and damp, and whenever he stumbled and bumped into the wall, he felt dewy moss and something scuttling beneath it. As much as he wanted to turn tail and run back into the main hall, he was grossed out enough to keep walking forward.

_"Luka, I'm really scared."_

_"We're in your backyard, silly, this cave isn't going anywhere."_

_Nolan's eyes, flashing and trembling, white and then closed. He shakes so violently that he ends up mechanically walking forward, like a wind-up soldier. "Yeah," he says, breathing hard, "but what if it does? I don't want to end up in some other world. Mom is making alfredo pasta tonight, and she's in a really good mood, so I think she'll even let me have dessert after."_

_"We aren't going to end up in another world," says Luka. His hands are in his pocket, and he feels like that, with Nolan at his side, it's impossible to be afraid of anything. He has to be the leader, the grown-up. "Once we find out what's inside, we'll just turn around and then walk right out into your yard. No big deal."_

Luka shook his head and the memory vanished, leaving him with nothing but a cold draft at his back and inviting warmth ahead. And so, pursing his lips together and keeping his hands _far_ away from those suspicious walls, he continued onward until he heard hushed voices.

"And you obviously do not know _anything_ about the art of warfare," said a familiar, and male, voice, which sounded very flat and sour. He made a condescending snorting noise, and then there was the shuffling of clothes. "Why the overlord even assigned you to this chapter, I shall never know."

There was a silence, leading Luka to think that whoever was ahead was talking to himself.

"Belittling," the man continued, spitting the words. "That word cannot _compare_ to what I—"

Luka was paralyzed, but he found the nerve to inhale deeply and take two steps out into the room. He saw the unidentified man, and he was very familiar indeed. He was the one with the uncomfortably bright, violet eyes. Not a week ago, he had been nonchalantly discussing the very reason why the world was in total chaos.

_Ah, there you are_, the man said, his mouth unmoving. He had not been physically speaking at all – he had been using telepathy, and Luka had overheard it.

"Who are you talking to?" asked Luka uncertainly. He glanced around the room, hoping to spot someone that he hadn't noticed before, but the room's only inhabitants were the man and himself. "Here I am? Were you looking for me?"

"Actually, we were," came Alfie's voice. She was standing at the door with her arms folded around a set of papers. Yami was hovering over her shoulder with another set of files. "I have the information you needed, Mewtwo."

_Bring the files, then._

Mewtwo exhaled with relief when the information was presented to him, as if he had been waiting for them for a long time. He shuffled through some of the papers, and he suddenly took on a very concerned expression. Looking at Alfie and Yami, he said, _These are the reports?_

"You mean the _lack_ of reports?" said Alfie, pursing her lips into a tight line. Her arms crossed, but Luka got the idea that she was subconsciously protecting herself from something. "And it isn't that we didn't get a lack of reports, we also got something a lot worse. A lack of report_ers_. Mewtwo, they were all gone. We sent the scouts out five days ago, and we haven't seen or heard from them."

_Has anyone searched for them?_

"Well, obviously," said Yami.

His words were filled with so much _duh_ that Luka instantly liked the guy a lot more. And, daring to be part of the team (just like Alfie kept implying he was), he timidly raised his hand. When everyone's eyes turned towards him, he gulped. "It was probably Darkrai, y'know. And five days ago? That's about the same time that…uh…Moor and Malacai came to us."

Yami's eyes hardened when his brother's name was spoken, but he remained silent.

"Luka, we can't be so sure that there's a connection between their appearance and the others' disappearance," said Alfie. However, she sounded somewhat unsure of herself, almost as if she was willing to believe anything at that point. She kept a slight smile on her face, though, wordlessly rewarding Luka for participating in the mystery.

"My brother doesn't have anything to do with this," said Yami quietly.

Alfie looked exasperated. "Yami, nobody said anything like that—" She paused, her yellow eyes drifting towards the entrance of the room. "Oh, Sophie," she said. "I'm glad you found your way here. Luka got here a little early."

Luka averted his eyes when Sophie waved to everyone, even to him. _I try to be sneaky and Houdini my way into a forbidden room, and it turns out that I was supposed to be in the first place, _he thought. Then he started to feel a bit irritated, simply because if he hadn't come to this room himself, he probably would have been forced to attend this meeting.

His attention found its way to Sophie as she meekly walked to the edge of the group. Her hair and wings were wet, reminding Luka of dewdrops on clouds, and she smelled fresh and airy. "I thought you might get lost," she said, sharing a smile with Luka. "I was worried about you."

"I don't _get_ lost," muttered Luka. He looked away. "I've lived in Saffron my whole life."

"If Malacai was part of their disappearance," came Yami's snapping voice, off to the side, "then he wouldn't be one of the victims. He's stuck in that infirmary, probably being tortured by Darkrai in his sleep. And everyone thinks that he's so suspicious just because he—"

"I don't believe Malacai has any big role in it, Yami," said Alfie, "but we have more important issues at stake here. I know he's your brother and that he's been missing for so long, but we can't spend our time slaving over this. The Wish Maker is still gone, Darkrai is kidnapping our Pokémon one by one, and we're getting increasingly attacked by his parties. The raids are too much. We have to figure out a solution to that _now_. Malacai is in stable condition. He can wait."

Yami bit his tongue, obviously forcing himself to stay quiet. "_Fine_," he said.

He and Alfie shared rigid stares, their eyes locking as if they were having a telepathic argument. Eventually, Alfie broke the eye contact and turned towards Sophie. "Has anything come up in your research?" she asked. "Any leads that we could follow?"

_What? _Luka's blood ran cold, and in his throat, he felt something like betrayal surfacing. _They gave Sophie a research job? They haven't even been keeping me updated. _Electricity crackled at the tips of his fingers, and he realized that he had been pinning his ears to the back of his head.

"Well," began Sophie hesitantly, "probably not anything you guys already don't know. Everything I've been looking at suggests that she has the power to destroy Darkrai, but nothing I've looked at tells me how. Going from what Mewtwo has said, other higher-ups shouldn't be able to have so much control over another. It's all very contradicting. Some of it makes total sense, but lots of it doesn't."

"Wait, wait, _she?_" said Luka, earning some more stares. He was beginning to feel like the class idiot.

_Cresselia. Once, she was very much revered for her beauty, respected for her wit._ _It is a shame that nobody has seen her since the age of the overlord's complete and supreme reign._

Luka frowned. "Nobody's seen her? So she's disappeared too?"

_Not disappeared_, replied Mewtwo. _We are all very aware that she is out there somewhere, untainted and unbothered by everything happening down here. We just do not know where. And there have been so many rumors spiraling around recently, rumors saying that she holds the key to Darkrai's power._

"That's just a rumor, though," said Alfie, and she looked at Luka. "I've been having Sophie look into it while the rest of us have been dealing with all the other problems on our shoulders."

Again, anger rose from Luka's heart and straight onto his expression. "Right," he said. He didn't even acknowledge Sophie's expectant _Aren't you proud of me?_ look. "How can she have that power, then? And why isn't she helping us defeat her brother? If your sibling is going around acting like a nut, then you just don't sit back and watch it all happen."

"There are too many holes that we have to fill," sighed Alfie, running a hand through her hair. "We honestly don't know. Cresselia hasn't been discussed too much in history, so we don't have much to go by. She's always been one of those quirky ones that sort of live in their own world."

Sophie began, "The information they wanted me to research—"

"Yeah, yeah, we get that you're their oh _so _special researcher now," said Luka, earning a hurt look from the Swablu. "But obviously, that's doing nothing. Why doesn't anyone go out and try to find her? If you guys won't do it, I'll do it myself. Nobody got anywhere by standing around waiting for something to happen."

_Actually,_ _we have another job for you entirely_, said Mewtwo._ While the sign-language one has does nothing to earn our distrust, she is the more suspicious of our leads. There is something about her that we do not particularly like. We want to bring her into questioning, but we know that our attempts would be futile, as she cannot speak and we cannot understand her. We want you to make a conscious effort to learn her language and, from there, extract information from her that we would otherwise be unable to do ourselves._

"What the—" Luka widened his eyes. "While you guys are out here, studying the very thing that could possibly destroy Darkrai, you're saddling _me_ with that…that _mute?_ That's not even a real job, and she's the reason that Aden still likes to chew me out three times a day."

Mewtwo turned away, throwing the papers he had been holding to the side. _If we needed you somewhere else, we would tell you, _he said. _I prefer to say that I trust her at this point, but we need you to find out if there is any reason to believe otherwise. And if she gives you a reason to send her back to where she came from, you must tell us. I shall not allow any danger to threaten our delicate state of existence, to ruin everything that we have worked for up until now. This is an extraordinarily important job, and we are entrusting you to handle it. Or her, I should say._

"But Cresselia—"

_We will handle that, _said Mewtwo pointedly. _How about you send her a prayer tonight, before you go to bed? Ask her for guidance, to come down and help us. That is the most that you can do for us right now._

Luka leaned back, unable to keep the indignant expression off of his face. There was no arguing when it came to Mewtwo, but he still felt like he was being assigned something so pointless. He thought of Moor – dark skinned and raven haired, painted with golden tattoos that shined like starshine. So what if she was beautiful? He had dealt with _tons_ of pretty girls in his lifetime, and that didn't mean that any of them were special.

Despite his unwillingness to confront her, the thought that maybe she _was _different lingered at the back of his head. She had appeared so suddenly, so _strangely_ that he felt a certain longing to know more. So, even though it killed him to say it, he said, "Okay, I'll do it."

* * *

Moor was sitting in what the other Pokémon liked to call the Greenhouse, which wasn't really a greenhouse but a room with splitting roots for a ceiling. Because of the separating roots, bits of sunshine were allowed to come in, and wildlife and flowers grew all over the ground. The place smelled like damp earth, like a forest after a storm.

Amidst the brightly colored foliage, Moor looked like someone's shadow. She was crouching amongst the flowers, her chocolate-colored skin and black hair looking out of place. The only characteristic of hers that had its place in the Greenhouse were her halo-shaped markings, which glowered like the sunlight and shined brighter than anything else in the room.

Luka had never been into the Greenhouse himself, only peeked into it during one of his exploration days, so he found the situation odd when he ended up standing awkwardly behind Moor, his hands fumbling for one another behind his back and his tail swishing around nervously.

"So you're friends with Malacai," he said, even though he expected no verbal response. _Stupid, stupid, stupid!_

Moor whirled around, startled, and Luka caught a glimpse of a glittering object in her hands. A black stone, colored like onyx, was quickly hidden beneath her dress, and then his eyes drifted upwards to her own. She smiled nervously, like she had been caught doing something inappropriate. She started to wave her hands around.

"What are you…?" asked Luka, looking at her oddly. Then he realized what she was doing. "Oh, that's your language, isn't it?"

With her palms flat, she crossed them over each other in an 'X' shape, almost like how one would impersonate a butterfly but without the fluttering fingers. And then she flipped them over so that, instead of her left, her right hand was crossing the other. Looking at him expectantly, she waited for his response.

"Uh." Luka raised his eyebrows, and then she too raised hers. "Yes? Yes! Is that what that means?"

She might have done the hand signal again, but instead she nodded. Luka, who was beginning to feel slightly awkward standing there and looming above her, crouched beside her in the assortment of lilacs and daisies. For several moments, they sat there in silence (not like Moor could have done anything different) and watched a thin beam of sunlight illuminate the edges of a blooming flower.

_Say something, _thought Luka. _You can't screw this up. _He couldn't explain his sudden urge to prove himself to Mewtwo and the others that he could do things right. Perhaps he was just sick of doing things wrong.

"How do you say flower in your language?" he asked.

Moor glanced at him, and then she pointed at a lilac for confirmation. When Luka nodded, she pressed her palms together, as if in prayer, lifted them vertically and then branched them outward. Luka didn't understand the connection between that particular movement and the word flower, but then he realized that her hands were imitating a flower blooming.

He repeated the same movement. "Like this?"

Moor grinned, her tattoos glowing brighter than before, and she politely clapped.

Relieved, Luka sat back. _Mewtwo can't learn much from the words 'yes' or 'flower' but it's a start. _He said, "So, in a way, you're kind of bilingual. You can hear us talk, and you can translate the spoken word into your hand movements. You probably could have just settled for listening to us, but you instead made your own language, so at least _someone _would understand you."

He had bundled so many assumptions into one package that when Moor shook her head up and down, "Yes", he was astonished that he had hit the answer on the spot. And because his totally embarrassing self couldn't come up with anything else, he ended up saying, "Wow. Lice—uh, nice! I meant to say...legit…and then nice, and it…became lice."

Moor laughed, her shoulders shaking but no sound coming out. She politely covered her mouth when she did, and for every breath that came and went, her hair would fall into her face and she would have to keep brushing it back with the other hand.

The sight of her silent laughing made Luka grin, and then he eventually began to laugh too. "Yeah," he said. "Lice. That was pretty stupid of me, wasn't it?" And to keep the joke running, he asked, "So how do you say lice in your language?"

That only made Moor giggle harder, although Luka couldn't figure out why. Then she began to wave her fingers, as if imitating a scuttling bug. After she was done, she started laughing even more than before, and then before Luka knew it, she had collapsed into a giggling fit that she couldn't seem to stop.

Luka let her laugh, because it seemed like she hadn't had the chance to in a long time. At first, he kept trying to talk her out of it, to get her focused on the matter at hand, but for every word he attempted to say, that meant another two minutes of solid laughter for her. Eventually, he just sat back and watched her, grinning and letting her be happy in a world that didn't trust her.

* * *

The moon was full – a round, white dish in the reflection on the water's surface. The air was warm and unbothered, and the only evidence that there was any other life besides Luka was the sound of the crickets in the distance. Even the lake water was uncomfortably still – there was no ripple or disturbance.

Luka glanced up from his trance, unsure of where he was or how he had gotten there. He scrambled up from the edge of the lake, sand falling from his clothes. "Hello?" When there was no response, he repeated, "Hello? Is anyone there?"'

Suddenly, the illusion of evening perfection was shattered. The image in front of him seemed to split right in half, tearing apart like paper with an accompanying ripping noise. Luka startled and fell back down to the sand again, left trembling and looking at the happening before him in horror.

A man with pearl white hair was smiling a phantom's grin – almost like Yami's, but with much more spite – in front of him. His clothes were black as night, the red cuffs of his sleeves, slacks, and collar swaying into a cloud behind him, and his glowing eyes were a shade of blue that Luka had never seen before. The irises reminded him of a frozen wasteland, a place far away that existed only under snow and layers of ice.

The sky had turned red, and the moon was no longer white, but black. The water lapped furiously at the land, disturbed by some otherworldly force. The man looked horrific against the scene behind him, but his arms were spread and his face was placid, as if he was inviting Luka to join him in the sinister world.

"W—who are you?" stammered Luka, charging his electricity defensively. He swallowed hard when he saw the dark, pulsing orbs that collected in man's curved palms. "Tell me your name!"

"It is almost as if they say _you_, my boy, are the new savior of the world," said the man. His voice was distasteful, but still his face was grinning. "No, wait, it is. Unbelievable, do you not think? That a pretty boy like you could even compare. Why do you not charge me? Strike me down where I stand?"

The man waited for a response, and when he received none, he continued, "Although I must admit, your body is constructing _quite_ the wall in front of your mind. It knows that you are being threatened, and it does not allow me to see into you. We stand on the outer boundaries of your dreams, a place where you are not as vulnerable as I prefer you to be."

"You're Darkrai," said Luka suddenly, cold fear gripping at his heart. "You're invading my dreams, just like you did to Malacai and everyone else." And then, something even worse entered his thoughts. "What do you want from me? Are you going to brainwash me?"

"I cannot," said Darkrai, "just yet." His words sounded grim, laced with a sinister tone that could only mean he planned to change that. "But just because you are mentally strong does not mean that you are capable of defeating _me_. The overlord has truly wasted his time investing in a rat and a birdy. He and the girl you call Alfie only felled Obsidian because he was weaker than I, less prepared than _I!"_

Luka paused, breathing hard. _Alfie. Obsidian. Who is that, and how does all of this connect? That wretch is STILL hiding things from me, isn't she?! I want to know why Epsilon was transformed, why Alfie was and why Sophie and I were! _His mind racked his thoughts for answers, finding nothing that could connect the dots and make a whole picture. The puzzle felt half-finished, all because the other pieces were missing.

Darkrai stepped closer to Luka, who flinched. The black Pokémon smiled wider. "The all-powerful overlord, thinking that his subjects did not trust him, lost faith in himself. He allowed that…_failure_ into his mind, allowed him to corrupt his soul. I do not wish to corrupt him with some virus, which was so easily obliterated by the girl with the golden eyes. I want to take his source of power and destroy him with his own weapons."

_The fairytale. _Luka almost choked._ About the king who got sick. _"Why are you telling me this? Why are you in my dreams?"

"As incompetent as you are," began Darkrai sourly, "I cannot have you harassing my troops. The white-haired girl is only a researcher, one who is curious. _You_ are the one that I fear will leap into action, and that is why you are either on my side or nowhere at all." He stretched his hand out, his extended index finger moving closer to the center of Luka's forehead, and then he commanded, "You shall let me into your mind now, boy."

Luka trembled violently, and just before Darkrai's finger made contact with his mind (and possibly, his soul) he shut his eyes and yelled, "_NO!"_

There was a shining light and the sound of something bouncing back. Darkrai shouted as his touch was recoiled, and he was shoved back past the sand and over the water. He stood on the surface of the lake, cradling his hand as if he had been burned. His face was horrifically pulled back in a snarl.

_That wasn't me, was it?_

"_Sister!"_ His booming voice echoed across the dream world, and his eyes searched the sky for any answers. At last, he made eye contact with Luka, looking more vicious than a rabid animal. "You are lucky, divergent one," he snarled. "I shall go now, but do not think, not even for a _moment_, that I have forgotten about you. Keep your dreams guarded, boy, for you never know when I shall return again!"

He whirled into himself, surrounded by a swirling, dark cloud that engulfed his form and then dissipated into thin air. There was a brief shadow hanging over the lake, and then it disappeared. When he was gone, the dream world returned to a peaceful state. The moon became white and full again, and the midnight sky was illuminated by distant stars.

"Sister," breathed Luka, digging his nails into the sand. Even though he was momentarily safe, there was a dull ache in his head. He groaned and pressed a palm to his forehead, wondering what had just happened. "His sister is…"

He glanced up, and then he was lost in awe.

A woman was standing over the water, right on the reflection of the moon. Her hair was flowing and _golden_, like a thousand solid gold bars. She angled herself at him, and he caught the slightest glimpse of her violet eyes before she too vanished into the night. With her disappearance came the whisper, "_Sweet dreams, Luka…"_

"Cresselia. That was Cresselia." Luka couldn't breathe, couldn't think straight.

Suddenly, the dream world began to rumble, shaking with the tremors of an earthquake. Luka jumped to his feet, nearly pulled down by the waves tugging at his ankles. And then, there was an outside voice, "Luka! Luka! _Wake up_, Luka, we're being _raided! The tree is being burnt to the ground!"_

**End of Chapter Five**


	7. Fire to the Sky

**Began chapter: **November 14, 2012  
**Posted: **November 12, 2012  
**Rating**: This entire fanfiction is rated **K+**

**Other notes**: I really do appreciate you guys correcting my mistakes. :3

Also, I went back and rewrote Epsilon. Right now, I feel like he is playing no great role, plus the overload of characters from _The Passionflower_ may overwhelm new readers that haven't read this story's prequel. But trust me, I have no intentions of keeping him OUT of the story. He'll come back – eventually.

**Read, enjoy, review, **and **_share!_**

* * *

**Chapter Six**

_"I am much closer than you may think.  
Reflections are not what they seem.  
Do not assume that what you see is where I am.  
Reunite the surface, the sky, and my heart – if you can."_

_Use my light to guide your way, little one. I am always here with you. _

"What…?"

There was something dangling around his neck – a thin, silver chain that tucked into his shirt. However, the foreign object was soon forgotten when, somewhere in the background, he heard Alfie's voice, "You have to get out of here _now!"_

Through his blurred vision, Luka saw Sophie's white hair and black eyes. She was shaking him, her expression desperate. She whispered, "Luka, please _please_ get up."

His eyes slid slightly to the left, and that's when he saw Alfie, who was violently searching the drawers for something. She threw them open and, when she found nothing, tossed them to the side and kept looking. "Sophie, drag him out of bed," she commanded without looking back.

Sophie's hands wrapped around Luka's wrist, and he exclaimed, "All right, all right, I'm up!" He stumbled out of the cot, and then he realized how much smoke there was in the room. Eyes watering, he covered his mouth and nose and coughed out, "Where is everyone else?"

"Taken care of." Alfie slammed her fist into the wall in frustration. Then she looked at him hard. "Luka, this is very important. The main hallway is nothing but ashes now. You have to take Sophie into the underground entrance right by the Greenhouse. It'll lead you to a circle of stumps, about twenty meters from the tree. You're gonna have a giant oak burning right above your head and raiders looking to find you. You _have_ to move fast."

"W—what about _you?_"

Alfie half-smiled. "I've dealt with things a lot scarier than a tree on fire," she said. Her voice was walking the line between confident and weak. "I'll be okay. I just have to find something important first."

Luka looked at her, trying to imagine what would possibly happen if he just left her here. The halls were pretty much deserted at that point. If she ran into trouble, there would be nobody here to help her. _But she looks so sure of herself._ And then he thought to himself: _If she's brave enough to stay in here, I can be brave too. There's no way I'm letting a girl show me up._

"It's okay, Luka," said Sophie, very softly. She pulled on him, encouraging him to go with her.

"Fine." Luka turned away and prepared to sprint off into the darkness. At the last moment, he turned his head and glanced at Alfie, giving her an irritable stare. "If you get yourself killed, you better not come back from the dead and haunt me. Also, if Aden blames me for this, you owe me."

Before Alfie could answer, he submerged himself into the cloud of smoke coming from the hallway. He felt Sophie's small hand in his, giving him slight resistance as he dragged her through the black mist. At one point, the smoke was so thick that he was unable to see even a foot in front of him. He stuck out his hand and felt the walls, hoping that he and Sophie wouldn't run into a blazing fire – or worse, a raider out to get them.

"Oh no," said Sophie, sounding like she was going to cry. She was looking in the direction of the Greenhouse, where fire was beginning to leak onto its foliage. "All of those beautiful flowers – destroyed."

"Yeah, yeah," said Luka, beneath his breath. Strangely, he thought of Moor sitting in the middle of the wildlife, looking sad and blissful all at once to be there. The smoke was escaping through the ceiling of roots, and through the roots, he could see the stars. "You'll see a lot more flowers in your lifetime."

Once the wall took a sloping dip, he knew that he was close to the exit. He only knew where it was because he had attempted to escape through it one day, unfortunately running into Aden and getting promptly grounded.

Not far ahead, there was a red glower on the walls; the hottest of the blaze was getting closer. To make matters worse, there were voices too. Suddenly, there was a shadow on the wall and a cackling noise. Luka yanked Sophie into the hidden exit, covering her mouth so she didn't cry out in surprise.

"Hush," he said. His hand still over her mouth, he pointed at the shadow on the wall. "The raiders," he explained quietly. And then he nodded towards him and Sophie's shadow on the wall, which was obvious but still enough to resemble an inanimate object. "If we move, they'll see us."

Sophie was trembling. "How could they?" she whispered when he removed his hand from her mouth, shutting her eyes. She was shaking so violently that Luka had to steady her by gripping her shoulders. "How could do something so horrible?"

"Sophie, be quiet." _We have to get out of here, but we're stuck. _As the fire continued to burn, the heat intensified. Sweat beaded at his brow, from both stress and the warmth from around the corner.

One of the raiders cried, "Where are the divergent ones?!" Her voice was so close that Luka knew they were standing just around the corner..

"The _tree, _Luka." She followed his directions and didn't move an inch, but at the corner of her eyes, Luka could see her glassy eyes, rimmed with barely shed tears. "They're burning the home of hundreds of Pokémon. I hate them."

_Again. That word: Hate._ As she held Sophie's shoulders in the darkness, his heart hurt for _her_.

"The pendant, the _pendant!"_ shrieked another raider, and Luka's stomach flipped. "You fool, the Master said specifically to find her necklace! It must be here, it must!"

One of Luka's hands reached for the object that had previously been forgotten. His fingers touched the silver chain first, running down to the charm that hung at the end. Making sure that his presence wasn't detected, he slowly pulled the necklace from underneath his shirt. When he saw what he held, his stomach twisted again and his throat went dry.

The charm was shaped like the full moon. There were detailed carvings all around the edges and, in the center, was a small diamond that shined even in the darkness. For a brief moment, he was hypnotized by the beautiful pendant. However, realizing that necklace was being sought after, he quickly tucked it back into his shirt. He hoped that the jewel hadn't caught the firelight and broadcasted his and Sophie's location.

_Why are they looking for this? What will happen if they find out that I have it?_

"You take that way," hissed one of the raiders, "and I'll go this direction."

Their shadows grew large and black as they passed, and then they were gone. Luka's vice grip on Sophie's shoulders softened, and he let her go. "Come on," he said stiffly. He began walking down the damp hall, anxious that he would turn around and the raiders would be at their heels. "We have to keep moving or they're going to catch up with us."

"They were looking for a necklace," said Sophie. She quickly trotted behind him, almost struggling to keep up with his long strides. "That's so odd. What on earth would they need one of those for?"

_I have no clue_, thought Luka. He felt the pendant on his chest, cool and warm at the same time. Suddenly, he remembered the words whispered into his ear just before he had woken up: _Use my light to guide you, little one. I am always here with you._

The pendant had been a gift. _From…Cresselia? _In his dream, she had protected him from Darkrai. _But why would Cresselia give me a necklace? A sword, sure. A shield, awesome. Even a magic wand would have been great. But a NECKLACE? _And now Darkrai's forces were full-out attacking the great oak, searching for the pendant that had just so strangely appeared around his neck.

Luka stopped dead in his tracks. "Oh no."

Two Pokémon stood in front of him. One had a skull for a face, the other had kaleidoscope eyes and a flowing, ghostly dress. Previously, they had their backs turned to him and Sophie, but at the sound of Luka's voice they whirled around and broke out into gleeful smiles.

"_A-ke-ke_, Duskull, look at what we stumbled into!" said the witch, clapping her hands together like she was having the best day of her life. "Two small ones with the word 'divergent' written across their foreheads! Our Master will be very pleased with us when we drag you in with ropes and cages!"

"L—Leave us alone," stammered Sophie, inching behind Luka. "Haven't you awful people done enough? I've done enough fighting with you!"

Duskull tilted his head slightly, and then his eyes lit up. "Shuppet!" His hand snatched out and yanked at the necklace, pulling Luka closer to him. As he winced in pain, the ghost Pokémon exclaimed, "He has it – Cresselia's heart!"

_Cresselia's heart._

"Take it, take _it!" _screeched Shuppet, hovering around her comrade. Impatiently, she went to Luka's side and attempted to find the clasp. "Oh, just _break it – _the chain doesn't matter! Give us the necklace!"

_She entrusted this with me. _Luka was never one for favors, but he sure as hell wasn't going to let them take something that belonged to someone else. He felt the anger in his chest at first, and then he felt it all over, burning and blazing in his body. Threateningly, he clenched his hands into fists, summoning the power of electricity in his palms. The static crackle and snapped, and the two ghosts let him go and backed away a step, as if amazed that he would dare attempt to retaliate.

"Over my dead body," said Luka.

The two ghosts sprinted at him, and he shoved Sophie to the side and threw a single punch at one of them. His whole arm coursed with electricity, and once the punch connected with the Duskull's chest, the power exploded in a burst of yellow light. Blinded by his rage, Luka then intercepted the Shuppet and sent her flying backwards with another blast of static.

"Get Mismagius, get her _now!"_ shrieked Shuppet, scrambling to her feet and darting away without even looking back at her partner. As Duskull ran past her and out the exit, Shuppet looked back and pointed a finger at Luka. Her next words were frighteningly close to the words of advice that Darkrai had given him. "We know you have it now, divergent one. Keep running and don't look back, because we will catch up!"

With that, she darted into the night. Luka stood there with his arm against the wall for support, breathing hard. Knowing that there was no time to lose, he turned to Sophie and said, "There's no way that the other raiders didn't hear that. Come on, we have to leave now before they find us in here."

Sophie swallowed and nodded, her eyes round.

Luka nodded and took her hand. As exhausted as he was, he ran through the darkness, not stopping to consider Sophie's health or how shallow her breathing was becoming. Even though the exit was not twenty meters away, they ran for what felt like hours, reaching for the fresh air and the moonlight outside.

Just before they were about to emerge into the outside world, Sophie breathed, "You have the necklace they were looking for—" she panted –"Cresselia's heart." And again, she took a moment to inhale and exhale. "Why are you wearing it? Where did you get it?"

"I don't know, _Sophie_," said Luka, his teeth clenched. The second that they were outside, he jerked his hand away from hers and turned around to look at her. "I don't know anything like _you _do. I don't know who Cresselia is, I don't know why she gave me this necklace—"

"Wait, she _gave _it to you? In person?"

"—And I don't know anything about anyone or any issue that any of you have with me!" Luka was so wrapped up in his confusion that he could hardly pay attention the chaos happening around him. As he stared at Sophie, he saw embers reflecting in her black eyes and his own pained expression. Flaming branches crashed down around them, but to him, there only existed him, her, and the tension that had built between them in such a short time.

"Luka, please," said Sophie, her eyes saying _Not now._

"Why don't you just take the stupid thing?" Luka attempted to search for a clasp as well, but to his surprise, he found nothing but little chain links. Frustrated, his threw his hands down. "Now every Pokémon and their mom is going to be looking for me because I have it. All it's done is cause trouble. The oak is being burnt to the ground because of it!"

Sophie opened her mouth to answer (she was probably going to go all Alfie on him and give him some speech about how he was the chosen one), but something caught her eye and she trailed off.

"What?" Luka looked behind him.

Malacai was standing there by himself with his back turned to them. Luka only knew it was Yami's little brother because of the similarly cut dark hair and his small, boyish figure. In his hand was a glowing weapon – a scythe, a sword, Luka wasn't sure _what _it was – and on the ground in front of him was Moor, who was sobbing and attempting to back away from him.

_She can't even scream for help_. Luka barely registered Sophie's hands flying to her mouth, how she shoved him forward closer to the burning tree, the attacker, and the victim.

"Luka, save her!"

Luka's voice caught in his throat. "M—Malacai, _stop!"_

Malacai – the boy who should have been in an endless nightmare – was walking. To see him stand and operate as smoothly as he did was utterly bizarre to Luka. _When did he wake up? And if he was being visited by Darkrai in his dreams, like Mewtwo said he was, does that mean that he's on their side now?_

"Your older brother is looking for you," said Luka, his chest tightening. He would have broken down on the inside, had he and Nolan been in the same situation as Malacai and Yami. Anything he could say to reach out to Malacai, he would. "You have to go home to him now. Your brother has been with you every night since you came here. Don't do this."

Malacai hadn't advanced towards Moor any further, but his eyes were still locked on her. Whether he was listening or not, Luka didn't know. Suddenly, he threw out his hand, tucking the blade of his weapon neatly beneath Moor's chin.

It took all of Luka's willpower to not shout out. Instead, he kept his tone calm and steady. "Put that down, Malacai," he said. "You don't know what you're doing. Are you being controlled? Listen to me. You can't let yourself be influenced. Open your eyes – Moor hasn't done anything wrong. Your brother still wants to see you very much. How would you feel if he…" As Malacai turned and looked at him, Luka trailed off.

The young boy stood there, unmoving. Suddenly, in a voice that was too mature for someone his age, he said, "I know what I'm doing. Maybe it's _you_ who should open his eyes."

He dashed away, so swiftly that Luka knew he had no chance of catching up with him. Luka staggered back, allowing Sophie to run past him and help the sobbing Umbreon to her feet. There was a crashing noise as one of the great oak's branches burst into flames and fell to the ground, but Luka found himself too paralyzed to take shelter.

Something inside was telling him that there was some_ crazy _link between everything – Darkrai and Cresselia, the missing higher-up known as the Wish Maker, the necklace, Malacai's strange behavior.

_Those raiders were willing to hurt me to get this necklace. This isn't a game anymore, _realized Luka with dread.

The fire raged on above his head, burning the great oak branch by branch. The wood splintered and the leaves were whisked away by the wind, nothing more than black ashes and dim embers. And as red and intense as the fire was, Luka had to hold himself to fight off the cold feeling that was gathering in his gut.

* * *

As the night grew cold and the burning tree became more and more distant, Luka stumbled into those who were left. He doubted that any Pokémon had perished from the attack, but there were definitely large numbers missing. The remainders, in the midnight darkness, looked like shadows with white eyes. They glanced up as soon as they noticed Luka and the others' arrival.

"Luka," said Sophie from behind him. She was still supporting Moor on her shoulder, and her thin legs were beginning to buckle beneath her. The chill of the night was getting to her as well, because her lower lip was trembling, her movements stiff and her skin pink. "Help me carry her, please."

As Luka slid his shoulder beneath Moor's arm, Aden approached them. "We thought we lost both of you," he said. Luka grew sick, looking at the embers on his clothes. "Here. Let me take her. We already have an infirmary set up for those who have been injured by the flames."

"It wasn't the flames," said Luka quietly, but he handed Moor off to Aden anyway. A sudden thought struck him. "Alfie. Is she here? Did she make it out okay?" He couldn't live with himself, knowing that he had allowed her to stay and she might have not escaped.

"Calm yourself, divergent one," said Aden, cradling a nearly asleep Moor in his arms like a child. As big as he was, she might as well have been one. "She got here far before you did. She has been resting with Yami, comforting him. His brother is nowhere to be seen."

Again, a sickening feeling began to flutter in Luka's stomach. "Malacai…he—"

"Yami will be fine," said Alfie, who had appeared from the darkness. "As for now, I'm going to go talk with Mewtwo about all of this." She eyed the two divergents. "You guys should come with me. There're lots of important things we need to talk about."

Luka watched as Aden walked away with Moor in his arms, and then he followed Alfie and Sophie to a small area behind one of the forest's large trees. There was a table set up there, a lit candle in the center of the desk and a restless Mewtwo pacing around it. Once he saw them, he gestured for them to join him.

_There is no time to waste,_ he said without any of the, "I'm so glad to see you!" that Luka expected. _Darkrai has always been about sly warfare. This is the first time that he has ever approached us so forcefully. There must be a change in the wind, a different tactic that he plans to use. If this continues, we will have to counter in the same manner._

"The tree, Mewtwo!" exclaimed Sophie, looking distraught. Luka figured that, because she hadn't been able to share her woes with him, she was moving onto a less sympathetic target.

_They were searching for something_, said Mewtwo. _And they were so anxious to obtain it that they were willing to burn the entire forest down if need be. _

Luka gulped. _Cresselia's heart_. He wondered how he should bring it up, or if he should at all. He glanced at Sophie from the corner of his eye, trying to gauge whether she was going to spill the information or not. _The necklace could turn this whole war around, if Darkrai were so desperate to get a hold of it. _

He pursed his lips, clutching at the necklace in his sweating palms. "Mewtwo, what were they looking for?"

Mewtwo looked up at him. His face was grim in the candlelight, and with the noises of the lamenting Pokémon in the background, his whole demeanor seemed even more somber. _It is something that Alfie and I have been looking into for nearly half a year now…a mysterious object known as Cresselia's Heart. We know little to nothing about it, only that it is her prized possession. Whether it is truly her heart or if it just deemed as such, we cannot tell you. All that we know for sure is that Darkrai will stop at nothing to get it._

Luka felt colder than ever, like the weight of the whole world had been placed on his shoulders. So far, Sophie had not said anything. She was just standing there quietly, acting as merely an observer.

_When Darkrai's invaders were raiding our home base,_ said Mewtwo, _they called for it, told us that they knew that we had it in our possession. All this time, we have just assumed it was a fairytale, a made up legend that only Cresselia knew the truth about. _

"We figured that, because Darkrai is trying so hard to get it, that it's part of his master plan to take down the overlord," said Alfie. "He's nuts, I think. I doubt that something mentioned that infrequently in legend could be so important."

Luka inhaled sharply. He began to pull the pendant from beneath his shirt. "Guys, I—"

_That is not all we have discovered since the invasion. _Mewtwo turned his back to them, folding his hands behind him and releasing a strained sigh. _Dialga led away most of the raiders, and __Aden so…courteously caught one of them and brought him in for interrogation. In an attempt to release him from Darkrai's influence, we learned something else. My own brethren, Jirachi the Wishmaker, has been captured and caged in Darkrai's castle._

"How awful!" said Sophie, looking absolutely horrified. "I thought he had only disappeared. I can't believe he's actually been captured, though."

"But get this," said Alfie. "Jirachi only wakes up once every thousand years, and when he _does_ wake up, he has the power to grant his waker one wish. It seems like there's a hundred different parts to Darkrai's master plan. He's taken Jirachi, is trying to find Cresselia's heart, and is enlisting the help of thousands of brainwashed, zombie Pokémon to help him."

Luka paused. "If Darkrai wanted _one_ wish, what would it be?"

_An unspoken law between the higher-ups is that we cannot directly interfere with one another,_ said Mewtwo. _That is why, for example, Arceus has not just destroyed Darkrai or vice versa. Us higher-up are beings of incredible power. We must be restrained. So if Darkrai were to have malicious intentions for the overlord, he would have to find a loophole, a way around this law of ours. This is why this "wish" of his is so difficult to guess. He cannot simply wish himself into ultimate power, nor can he wish for the overlord's fall or his destruction._

"If he can't directly interfere with higher-ups, then how has he captured Jirachi?" asked Luka, not seeing how all of this connected.

_The answer is painfully simple. Darkrai is the one who awakened Jirachi, and now he is the one who gets his wish. He is not technically interfering with Jirachi, only following the Wishmaker's rules._

Luka opened his mouth to say something really intelligent back, but all that came out was, "That's…stupid."

_Tell me about it._

Alfie looked at Mewtwo, giving him a single brow raise. He nodded in response and then he said to Sophie, _Come, my child. We shall go see to the health of our friends._ Putting his hand on her back, he led her away. Sophie glanced over her shoulder worriedly, and then they disappeared beyond the corners of the trees.

"What was that about?" asked Luka, already knowing what kind of seriousness what about to happen. He kept his eyes fixed on the spot where Sophie and Mewtwo had vanished, as if wishing he could go with them. Eventually, knowing that a talk was unavoidable, he turned around and looked into Alfie's yellow eyes.

She took that as her cue to speak. "You've been talking with Moor, right?" she said, fiddling with the glass iris in her hair. Realizing what she was doing, she hurriedly dropped her hand to her side.

_Unsure of what he was doing, Luka shakily moved his hands. He sounded out the words as he spoke…no, not spoke…as he shaped them with his gestures. "My name," he began hesitantly, "is Luka. I come from Saffron City, which is located in Kanto." He paused, looking up at the black-haired woman in front of him. "Was that right?"_

_She crossed her hands, which read, "Yes." And then she added (slowly, so that Luka could understand her), "I'm impressed that you've come this far in only two weeks."_

"For about two weeks," sighed Luka. He felt like he was a soldier reporting for duty. "And before you ask, I've learned quite a lot. Right before my dream—the raid, I mean…we talked a lot. We can have basic conversations now."

_"What did that mean?" he asked, just after she had completed a series of even more complicated hand gestures. He caught the words, "You" and "like", but nothing else._

_Moor shrugged coyly. Looking content, she leaned back and plucked one of the flowers from the ground and brought it close to her face._

_Luka frowned. "Seriously," he said irritably. His agitated expression only deepened when she, purposely ignoring him, took a slight whiff of the flower. "How am I supposed to lean anything when you just go off on tangents and say things I can't understand? You could at least explain yourself."_

_She looked at him, and her expression brightened. In a sequence, she pointed at him and then pointed at the sky. With her fingers, she drew a star. "You," she said (using her secret language, of course), "…like…star."_

_"I…" Luka realized that when she was moving her hands away from her, she was imitating something glowing. "I shine like a star."_

"Well, that's good," said Alfie, sounding relieved. "Just keep doing what you're doing. You need to find out as much as you possibly can."

"Understood," said Luka. Then, there was a silence between them. They stood there, only feet apart but feeling miles away from one another. A midnight breeze pushed through them, as if purposely separating them. "That's not the reason why you told Mewtwo and Sophie to go away," he stated, almost accusingly. "You have something else to say."

Alfie looked startled, as if interrupted from a dream. "Oh, right." She pinned her lips together until Luka could see them no longer, and then she said, "What I'm gonna tell you, you can tell Sophie later. But right now, it's just us." She paused for a long while, taking her time. "I want to go to Darkrai's castle and save Jirachi."

**End of Chapter Six**

* * *

**Other Notes**: PLOT TWEESTS?! IMPENDING JOURNIES?! YUS.


	8. Favors In the Night

**Chapter Seven**

_This is no longer a game. We're risking our lives now._

Alfie's voice ("And I plan on leaving tonight") jolted Luka from his thoughts. He glanced up at her, straight into her eyes and past the façade that he so desperately wanted her to be putting up. She was not faking her intentions, though; he could tell from the hard edge to her stare.

"Tonight?" he echoed, feeling a constricting grip in his chest. "We're going to see Darkrai _tonight?"_

When reminded of Darkrai's ice blue eyes and blood red voice, Luka shivered. The evil Pokemon was frightening enough in his dreams; it would be another story to march right into the middle of his castle and _take _Jirachi like it was no big deal. Battling freaky, Halloween-themed Pokemon and escaping from burning trees was already going too far.

"Well, maybe we won't see him tonight," said Alfie, shrugging. Her tone was lighthearted, as if she was completely used to risking her life on a day to day basis. "But we'll be headed in that direction—"

"We?" Luka felt like a broken record. His mind was already beginning to spin like one. "_We'll? _You said _you_ wanted to save him. You didn't say that_ I_ had to be involved in this."

Alfie looked confused. "Oh, I guess I forgot to mention that part," she said.

Luka was seconds away from freaking out on her. "H—how are you not terrified of this adventure you're planning _at all?" _He turned away, wringing his hair, and then he faced her again. "You're telling me you just want to…_waltz _into Darkrai's castle? Look at what his minions did to your tree, to Sophie's shoulder! He had the nerve to come into my dream—"

"Wait, your dream?" asked Alfie, and Luka realized that he had unintentionally let his secret slip. Concerned, she pressed, "Darkrai went into your dreams? W—when? What did he do? You're not hurt, are you?"

_Ugh, why bother hiding anything from her? She'll find out in the end either way. _Luka pursed his lips together. Reluctantly, he said, "It was earlier tonight, just before you woke me up. And he didn't do anything. Well, he tried to. He tried to get into my soul, or something weird like that."

"_Tried?" _Alfie suddenly appeared years older. "What do you mean he _tried? _Darkrai doesn't _try_, he _does_ and does it without any mercy or sympathy at all. If he was trying to break into your mind, I can't understand how you're still standing here and completely conscious."

_Oh great, here it goes. _"He wasn't the only one who was there," said Luka, earning a startled expression from Alfie. "Cresselia was there too. At least, I think she was Cresselia. When he tried to take over my mind, something – or someone, I guess – saved me. He got really mad about it and then he disappeared. When he was gone, I saw her."

"Did she talk to you?" exclaimed Alfie, eyes round.

"Not exactly," said Luka, faltering. He gently touched the pendant around his neck. "Well, maybe she did…a little. When I woke up, I could hear her. She told me to use her light to guide my way, and that she was always by my side. And then she…and then she left me this."

He took the pendant from under his shirt, watching as it glinted and shined in Alfie's shocked eyes. "You have the Heart," she said. She sounded slightly frightened, as if she was beholding something of incredible power. For a moment, she hesitantly reached for it, and then she withdrew her hand. Firmly, she added, "If she left it with you, then it belongs to _you_."

"You're not going to take it away…?" asked Luka, not daring to believe it. He had feared that from the beginning: that the only clue he had been given about his destiny would be stolen from him.

"Of course not," said Alfie, looking at him like he was stupid. "Trust me, she trusted you to take care of it for a reason. There's no way I'm gonna interfere with that trust."

For the first time, Luka was truly amazed by something about the Pokemon world. He was unable to forget Cresselia's golden hair or the way she had so willingly given him her prized possession, an object so desired that Darkrai was willing to burn an entire forest to retrieve it.

_Nobody's ever trusted me like that before_, he thought. And something he experienced for the first time as well: his curiosity to know more about his transformation. _Maybe it wasn't anyone's fault. Maybe it really WAS supposed to happen. _And then he thought about his powers, how strongly he had wanted to protect Cresselia's heart.

"I know that look in your eyes," said Alfie. "I would know, because I've experienced it myself."

"What look?" asked Luka, already irritated that she was ruining his daydreaming. _Can't she be quiet for five minutes to let me think?_

"You're starting to understand why you're here," she responded with another shrug. "And if that's not that, you're beginning to accept your transformation. I mean, I was cool with my death and stuff after a little bit, but I didn't _really _accept it until I realized that I had something to fight for…until the moment I saved Ever—"

"Saved who?"

"Long story. Maybe another time."

Luka stared at her suspiciously. "What are you, a mind reader?"

"I could be," she said. She was pretending to be serious, but the coy expression on her face proved otherwise. "I was a Pokemon therapist for a little bit. I'd guard your thoughts carefully."

Luka winced, and then he realized how idiotic he was being. The whole issue with Darkrai in his head…it had made him paranoid. He knew that she was only joking, but he could only think of his dreams being invaded once again. Nightmares were going to plague him for weeks. _Oh great, maybe that's Darkrai's master plan, _he thought pitifully.

Alfie finally asked, "So are you with me or not?" She nodded towards his neck, grinning. "It's official. You have something to fight for now. You should be rejoicing!"

"I'm not going to celebrate by storming Darkrai's castle with you," said Luka flatly, not at all fooled by the cheerful attitude. He grasped the necklace and turned away, afraid she would rip it right from his neck and sprint off of with it. "We'd be toast, just the two of us. The guy can control an army of zombies through their dreams."

"Oh, it wouldn't be only us," said Alfie earnestly, like that changed everything. "Sophie's a divergent one too, so she's automatically been signed up. And Moor. I want Moor to go too."

_Well, that angle's been taken down,_ Luka thought. He thought about the small, fluffy bird Pokemon running into a castle with battle gear on, prepared to fight to the death. He had to snicker to himself, just because it was so utterly ridiculous. And then, Alfie's last words connected with his brain. Dumbfounded, he said, "Wait, _Moor?"_

"She's the only lead we've got," said Alfie. "Malacai's missing—" Oh, Luka wanted to throw up –"and we don't know anything about the castle. We all know that Moor came from there. Maybe she knows something that we don't. She could help us a lot."

Luka was still stunned. Moor was like another Sophie – so associated with peace and innocence that Luka couldn't imagine her accompanying them to such a dark place.

"And we don't know for sure that she came from Darkrai's castle," he said. "We only guessed that because she showed up with Malacai." He paused. "She can't even talk."

"That's why we have you!" said Alfie brightly. At his lack of response, her eyes softened and she touched his shoulder. "Luka, I've seen lots of people hurt by this war. It _kills_ me to watch Yami act the way he does, because now he knows his brother is a victim of Darkrai's evil. Some of these children have been orphaned. Jirachi is in a cage. Arceus has to watch his people fight and suffer while he recovers."

Luka held Cresselia's heart close to his own. _When I got here, everyone expected me to sit down and play good boy while they went out and battled, _he thought. _I thought they had brought me here for no reason; that just because I was a "divergent one" meant that I had to be here. But Cresselia…_ She hadn't given him any explanation or instructions, but with her heart came a purpose. He didn't know what the necklace was or what it meant, but he knew he had to protect it.

_I will see Nolan again, _he determined. _I have to stay alive and do what I have to do. I'll do whatever it takes so he doesn't have to be lonely. _

"I'll go with you," he said, even though it made his stomach drop to say it. To lighten the mood, he added, "Great, I'll be travelling with a bunch of girls. Can you all possibly handle the danger?"

Alfie looked at him, challenging him with her fierce eyes and confident smile. "Oh, please," she said. "Don't you know who I am?"

_She's seventeen years old and has saved the world. She's the bravest person I've ever met. She's divergent, _thought Luka. He experienced a powerful rush of pride.

Because he was divergent too.

* * *

"Of course I'm going with you!" exclaimed Sophie. She glanced around, making sure that nobody was listening to the conversation. Then she lowered her voice and said, "We're leaving tonight? It's on."

Luka huffed. "Are you not fazed whatsoever?"

"He burned down the tree, Luka," said Sophie, wearing this sort of _duh _expression. "That was completely unforgivable of him. I'd like to get a good look at him right now and tell him straight to his face how horrible and awful he is."

_Take note: If I ever want to unleash Sophie's 'hell hath no fury like a woman scorned', then I'll make sure to burn down a couple of bushes, _thought Luka. "Well, keep up that attitude. By the time we get there, I'm not sure if we'll have enough morale to go around."

He stood there, not sure what else to say. Sharing plans to march to their imminent death was not the most exciting thing. Sophie remained where she was, pressing a damp cloth to a sleeping someone's forehead.

"We're not supposed to tell Mewtwo," said Luka.

"I figured," hummed Sophie. She sighed and dropped the cloth into a nearby pail. "So when do we leave?"

"Tonight."

"Oh, that's soon," she remarked. Then she frowned. "Maybe a little too soon. Everyone is still really burnt up. We need all the extra hands that we can get."

Luka explained the reasoning, "Apparently, Mewtwo has somewhere to be tonight. Some kind of meeting with him and the overlord. Alfie's convinced that the only time we'll be able to get away with this is after he leaves."

Sophie appeared guilty. "I don't know if I like the idea of going behind his back," she said. She ushered Luka into a more private area, a decently sized space in between two tree roots. "He's a pretty intimidating Pokemon. All he has to do is _think_ and he could literally rearrange our insides."

"Yeah, I don't like it either," said Luka, already beginning to feel his gut churning, "but Alfie seems to know what she's doing. It comes down to sneaking away and saving Jirachi. He can't be cooped up forever."

"You're right, I guess." Sophie pursed her lips, looking away to think. Then she glanced up at him and said, "Okay, I'm definitely going now. What do I need to bring? Oh, definitely a first-aid kit."

"There are no first-aid kits in situations like this," came Alfie's voice, and she appeared from behind the root to slip into their space. "You might think you've seen danger, but the burning tree was nothing compared to Newmoon Island. That place is mentioned in every nasty bedtime story ever told. All you're going to need is your strength. And some hope, too."

Luka took a moment to breathe, just to comfort himself. "It's fair game, then," he said.

"It appears so," said Alfie, who seemed to escape into a daze. When the light in her eyes returned, she continued, "Mewtwo has just left. He's entrusted the camp to me, but I'm sure Epsilon will do a fine job of taking care of everything. If he can keep a fifteen-year-old Yami and me in line, then he can surely run a camp of burn victims."

"Then this all works out too smoothly," said Luka miserably. He had managed to stand with his chin high for about fifteen minutes, but in reality he had been hoping the plans for this trip would swiftly fall apart. "I guess I'm ready to leave then."

"Me too," said Sophie.

Luka was surprised at the firmness of her voice. Minutes ago, she was carefully tending to the wounded. And now, she was prepared for an adventure, for battle, for _anything_. He grasped Cresselia's Heart, wondering if the moon goddess would give him the same strength that seemed so natural to Sophie.

Moor appeared at the edge of the three-person group, her hand lingering over her own pendant. Luka was still mystified by the onyx-colored sphere, which seemed to only pulse and shine when nobody else was looking. The necklace was dormant, resting against her collarbone without anything to say.

The Umbreon waved her hands. Like an amateur would, Luka hesitantly translated, "She says she's ready too. She doesn't like the idea, but she wants to save Jirachi."

"Alrighty, then!" Alfie bounced a few steps towards a random direction. "Off we go!"

"So, we just start walking?" asked Luka, following her. "There's no epic music to go with it? No bumping fists and shouting for our team? We just…walk off?"

His question spurred a small debate in between Alfie and Sophie, who both began to list the reasons why Luka was such an idiot and how he probably never snuck out during his childhood. He tuned out rather quickly, and being surrounded by the forest's eerie darkness, it was easy to fall into another realm of thought.

Alfie and Sophie were so much alike, he thought. They were nearly the same height, with the same small stature and fearless personality. Both had short hair that never touched their shoulders. Their eyes were large, filled with curiosity. They were even both adorned with girlish dresses that seemed completely out of place amongst war and suffering. In the shadows, they brought everyone light.

_Huh_, he wondered as he walked behind them. He hadn't ever thought of how similar they were. _They could have been really good friends if they were still humans. They're getting along really nicely right now…_

Could Luka have interacted with girls like them? He could barely handle talking to his mother. Suddenly, an unnerving thought came to him. _Would I have taken advantage of them like I did to Cassia? _He couldn't imagine ever getting close to girls who seemed so innocent. The concept was almost disgusting to him.

He felt a hand touch his shoulder. Moor was staring at him, looking concerned.

"I'm okay," said Luka honestly. "I was just lost in thought."

She stiffened her lower lip, as if she didn't believe him. After several moments, however, she relaxed and went back to listening to Alfie and Sophie. Every now and then, she would allow herself to gently smile.

Luka's eyes trailed to the pendant around her neck. He couldn't help but think how much the necklace resembled the Heart. Moor had never given him a reason that explained why she wore it, whether it was because of personal significance or something like that. And she _never_ took it off. Even when she slept, she let its chain hang from her.

_The stone is so…dark, _he thought, feeling disconcerted. There was a sinister energy inside. He hoped that whatever it was, it certainly didn't speak to her like the Heart spoke to him. If it did, he could only imagine what things she might hear.

After nearly two hours of walking, something else occurred to Luka.

"Guys, we're going to Newmoon Island," he stated. He waited, but only received silence. "It's an _island_. What are we gonna do, swim there? Ride a _boat_?" And then, he remembered something even more bizarre. "And it's in _Sinnoh_. We're in Johto. I'm not adding up the math here."

Sophie stopped and thought. "I didn't even think about that," she said in disbelief.

Alfie also halted in her tracks, entirely aware of everyone's expectant looks. She turned around and almost startled at the three stares that pinned her. "Guys, guys," she began, "I've got this all figured out. Well, sort of. I kind of do."

Luka blinked. "What were you planning on doing then?"

"Uh." Alfie looked at the sky, as if she was estimating something by the stars or the moon. "Oh, well I guess we're far out enough." She returned her attention to the three others. "I wasn't planning on walking to Newmoon. I like to ask the higher-ups for a favor every now and then. You know, since I saved the world and all."

"You're going to call on a higher-up?" asked Luka. "Isn't Mewtwo and everyone else in league with each other? They're just going to find out about our little journey and stop us from doing anything stupid. I mean, not like this whole trip isn't one big cluster of stupid, because it is."

"Don't worry about it," said Alfie. She took ten steps away from the group and paused, her hand hovering over her chin. "Okay, this looks good. You'd say we're at least ten miles away from the nearest sign of life, right?"

Luka was dumbfounded by her question. "Um, yeah, I _guess."_

"How do you call a higher-up?" Sophie wondered to herself. "And which one is she going to call?"

Moor looked worried at this point, so Luka felt like he had reason to be as well. "Alfie, come on," he said. He was quickly growing more and more exasperated with her antics. He may not have been someone as prestigious as the _seeker_, but he knew when to expect trouble, and this felt like more trouble than he was willing to handle. "We can just keep walking. We don't need to be…summoning anybody dangerous or anything."

"Oh, he's not too dangerous," said Alfie.

Luka groaned. "Isn't there a rule written down somewhere that explicitly states that you can't just summon a higher-up whenever the heck you feel like it? You seem to be throwing around your power a little bit too much here."

"Luka, don't worry about it. He's a friend. He owes me a favor or two. Plus, he's the only higher-up who seems to have too much time on his hands nowadays." Alfie sounded far away from their disagreement, like her words were automated and she was somewhere else entirely. She surveyed the forest around them. "Yeah, this is as good a place as any."

Moor was fidgeting beside Luka, who was excited but worried at the same time. Alfie had never intentionally led him into the face of danger (well, not counting the trip to Newmoon and all), so he couldn't imagine her putting them at risk now. Besides, who was he to tell her what she should and shouldn't do when it came to the higher-ups? She knew them all personally, and he was this newbie who had only read about them in books.

"Okay, I think we're good," determined Alfie. "Everyone huddle together. He's kind of a drama king. He might make his appearance way more flashy than he needs to."

_What kind of higher-up are we talking about here? _Luka thought, pressing his back to Sophie and Moor. Alfie remained outside of the circle, standing by her lonesome self.

From behind him, Sophie repeated her question, "How are you going to call for him?"

"Well…" Alfie stepped further away from the group. She finger-combed her hair and prettied herself up, much to Luka's amazement.

He began, "What on _earth _are you—"

"You know," said Alfie, who was speaking a little bit louder than she needed to. "I once knew this higher-up. Sure, he might be handsome and powerful, but in the end, he's all bark and no bite."

There was a slight shift in the wind, and Luka felt two bodies shivering behind him as an ominous sound groaned in the trees. "Uh," he said. He didn't even protest when Sophie grabbed his wrist and Moor sidled closer to him. "Maybe this really isn't such a good idea."

But Alfie, like the airhead she was, kept going. "I think he knows exactly who I'm talking about too," she said. "A while ago, there was something that he promised me. He used his finger the first time. Maybe if he came, he wouldn't have to again."

Sophie was tomato red, and she began to fan herself. "Alfie, w—what are you talking about?!"

Alfie looked at the sky, as if challenging it. "Hey, Dialga, come and give me that kiss you were talking about."

There was an intense flash of light that ripped through the forest so violently that Luka and the girls were blasted backwards. He felt himself tumbling into the dirt, and he covered his head until the hot wind and light vanished. When he opened his eyes, Alfie was standing there with her hand in front of her face. Her palm was the only thing blocking her face from that of another man's, who Luka figured was the higher-up she had "summoned."

"I hope you didn't think I was being serious," she deadpanned.

The man huffed and stepped back, pouting. He crossed his arms and said, "You know, girl of flowers, I was ready to take you up on that offer. I thought you might have finally ditched that whiny ghost and…the _dog._"

"Leave them alone."

"You could have come to the Temporal Tower with me," the man continued. His voice was a deep and rich drawl that didn't fool Luka's ears. "I might have made you a princess. Day and night, you could have lived beneath my careful affection. We could have lived together for an eternity, ruling all of time."

Alfie gave a throaty, mocking laugh. "And if you really thought that the reason I called you here was for a kiss, Dialga, you'd be dumber than I thought."

"Of course not," said Dialga, running his fingers along his jaw. At the corner of his lip, there played a knowing smirk. "And yet, a hopeless romantic such as I can only dream. To think, I came all this way here and received nothing in return for the favor."

Luka instantly knew that he and Dialga, if ever placed in a room together, would end up killing one another. He felt a personality clash happening. The man was dressed to impress, after all, and that was about as suspicious as could be. He had well groomed hair and mischievous eyes, and in the center of his chest there was a huge sapphire that cast an aquamarine light on everyone around him.

Sure, Luka was talking big, but he realized the second that Dialga's wary eyes fell on him that there would be no more of that. One would have to be a total moron to not feel the intense power that stemmed from the higher-up. And really, that was the most disturbing part about the whole situation. Luka was doubtful that someone like Dialga would be summoned by the temptation of a kiss from a skinny girl who had a strange haircut and who was probably thousands of years younger than him.

"And who are they?" asked Dialga, sounding delighted.

He began to walk forward, but Alfie stuck out her arm and blocked his way. "You know exactly who they are," she said. It was clear that she had dealt with him in the past. "I'd rather you hang back. I already dislike talking in person with you. The last thing I need is for you to be all over them."

Dialga glanced down at her. He was probably thinking the same thing that Luka suspected he was: _I'm a higher-up of extreme and immense power, and you think you can stop me with your scrawny, little arm? _He stayed put, however, as if tamed by her presence.

"Ah, yes, the new divergents."

Instead of walking closer to them, his eyes lifted and he dedicated several moments to both Luka and Sophie. Luka doubted there was anything more unnerving than that. Mewtwo was pretty intimidating, but he was nothing compared to this guy. They were two different types of power.

"I haven't got time to waste, so listen up," said Alfie quietly. There was a slight pause. "Your brother. Palkia. How open is he to our cause?"

Dialga looked several disappointed. "Dearest girl, you called me here so that you could perhaps get into contact with my brother? I am hurt."

"Just…answer the question."

"Fine, then," said Dialga, backing up. For the first time, Luka noticed the sound of a ticking clock, beating in cadence with Dialga's words. "Just about as open as I am. We are both loyal to our overlord, so he is sympathetic to your plight. However, I am not sure how _open_ he would be to helping you achieve…whatever it is you need."

"We have to get somewhere, and we have to get there fast," explained Alfie. "I know he controls space. If I wasn't travelling in a group, I might have asked the Northern Wind for help. But I know she can't carry all of us. Your brother, I think, can."

Dialga grinned. "Yes, yes, that is true," he said. "Not to sound too intrigued by your quest, but might I ask where you are headed? I know you. And I know that you have an interest for purposely inserting yourself into danger."

_Oh, lovely, _thought Luka.

"Newmoon," replied Alfie. Her response was much to Dialga's shock. "Jirachi can't stay there any longer. He's been there for so long already."

Dialga gazed at her suspiciously, but with amusement, as if he was betting on her life. He asked, "So then, why now? What is it about this fine and mystical night that calls you to Darkrai's island? It was terrible last night and the night before."

Alfie's hardened stare never wavered. "Because I know it is," she said. She pointed at the sky, and Dialga's eyes followed her finger. "The moon is full tonight. Cresselia will surely be watching over us."

"_Cresselia?"_ Dialga snorted. "A shame that she has to be related to that stupid lout. She has always been the epitome of beauty, of exquisite breeding, of _refinement._ Alas, one can choose his friends, but he cannot choose his family…The name. Why do you mention it?"

Alfie hesitantly stepped to the side, allowing Luka and Dialga to be face to face. "She gave him her Heart," she said, breathless as ever by the idea. "She's been gone for so long, and now she's entrusted it to him. I believe it's a sign, that tonight is the night that we take charge. I can't imagine any other reason why she would reach to us like that."

"You have the Heart?" Dialga nonchalantly scrutinized Luka, his nose up. Even though Alfie seemed totally opposed to it, the higher-up strayed forward and stopped several paces away from the divergent. "Pfft, well, I have never been one to disagree with such a lovely woman's judgment. Perhaps your prediction was correct, girl of flowers. Perhaps you all…namely this boy…are her vessels. If I were you, I would not turn down the opportunity to arise to this challenge."

"Then you'll help us," said Alfie, growing desperate. "Please. I know you and Palkia don't always get along. But I know you two are brothers. And—and if you want to help us, shouldn't he too? I'm sorry, Dialga, I would have called for him if I knew how…I only brought you here because I knew you would be listening."

"Maybe I would be _oh-so_ inclined to pull a few strings," said Dialga. "Although I am still disappointed that I came all this way, only to be told that this pretty, little lady wants my brother's help instead of my own…Alright, then. I shall call upon the Master of Space."

Alfie walked back to the group. "To you three, I'm sorry too," she said. She looked genuinely apologetic. "Sometimes, my plans don't always work out if everybody gets a piece of it. I didn't want to leave you in the dark anymore. I wasn't even sure if Dialga would show or not. I just had to hope and keep my fingers crossed."

"No, it's cool," said Luka sarcastically.

Alfie gave him a "look." She sighed and rubbed her arms. "I never said I was perfect," she said. "Trust me, if only you knew about some of my other 'brilliant' plans. Sometimes the higher-ups will only show in the most bizarre of situations."

"I highly doubt that anything you've ever done can top what you just did," said Luka. "You practically puckered your lips and asked him to come and give it to you."

"Once, I jumped off of a cliff to get Suicune's attention," Alfie offered. When she was met with the others' dumbfounded stares, she shrugged again, as if doing stupid stuff was totally natural in her adolescence. "Hey, like I said. Bizarre situations."

"No," said Luka. "Bizarre doesn't quite cover it."

Sophie peered around Luka's shoulders. "What's he doing?"

Dialga was murmuring to himself. No, not to himself, Luka realized. To Palkia, his brother. The moon and stars shined on the man as he strolled casually in circles, his eyes lowering every once in a while. There was a stiff silence between the younger Pokemon as they watched him, hoping, _praying_ that his brother could be coerced.

Finally, a pleased smile happened upon Dialga's face. "Excellent," they heard him say. "You know you still owe me that vase…"

Alfie blew her hair from her eyes, clearly relieved. "Good!" she said, hurrying over to Dialga's side. Before she spoke again, she gave the others a reassuring thumbs-up. Her expression clearly translated as: Well, I wasn't sure this was going to work, but it did, so whoopee. "So, he'll come here then?"

Dialga glanced downwards, as if he just noticed her. "Oh, who said that he was coming in person?"

Luka stumbled backwards as the whole world began to shift. At first, the shift was like rocking on a seaboat. He began to feel nausea boiling in his stomach. And then, the movement became so violent that he had the breath knocked from him and he collapsed to his knees.

Moor was panicking beside him, her hands covering her ears as if there were some supersonic noise ringing in her head. Her dark hair flew all around her and her eyes were shut tight. Even Sophie looked like she was about to dry heave; her arms were wrapped protectively around herself. Alfie was on her side, panting and beading with sweat.

Only Dialga seemed unaffected by the space moving around them. He seemed extremely entertained by the four Pokemon on the ground. Once the swirling vortex around them began to slow, he leaned over Alfie and whispered something in her ear, his voice inaudible to Luka. Dialga's eyes slowly raised until they were fixed on someone in the group – who it was, Luka didn't know; his vision was still swimming – and then he left her side.

Luka had no idea what had just happened, but Alfie looked even more distressed than before. He didn't want to see her like that. Only bad tidings came from expressions like hers. He watched as Dialga checked the time on his golden pocketwatch. Even though there were a few choice words he could have said to him, the higher-up shut his pocket watch and began to walk away without looking back once.

"A—_agh…" _ The world was spinning, and the centrifugal force was keeping Luka pinned to the ground. Gravity was ten times stronger than usual. He could barely lift his head without his whole body crying out in protest. So he let himself lay there, shakily breathing as he watched everyone around him suffer the same pain.

When everything had finally come to a halt, Dialga was gone and Sophie was in tears from her experience. She was crying into her fist, not even bothering to attempt to lift herself from the ground. Moor was emotionally stable, at least, but that didn't mean she wasn't shaken up, because she obviously was. The light of her golden rings had slightly faded.

Luka coughed so violently that his eyes became rimmed with wetness. His arms felt like jelly as he pushed himself away from the ground, which had become surprisingly soft, almost like sand. For a while, he could only make out distant shape and the other bodies around him. It didn't take him long, however, to see that the trees around them had cleared and the moon was shining brilliantly above his head.

_Newmoon…Island._ He swallowed and wiped the grains of sand from his face. "Alfie," he panted. "Alfie, are we here?"

The older girl was sitting up, her arms propped behind her for support. Her whole left side was covered in a sheet of white sand. "Oh, we're here," she said, without even bothering to inspect her surroundings. "I know this feeling," she added, soft enough that Luka had to struggle to make out her words.

"What feeling?

"The feeling," began Alfie as she stood, "that there are very dark forces here." She paused, looking up at something dark above her. "Oh yeah. _Very _dark forces."

The Heart pulled at Luka, forcing him to share in Alfie's experience. He didn't want to look up, but he knew he had to face what was ahead. And when he did, he instantly regretted it.

Yes, the moon was full, like Alfie had said. That surely (possibly?) meant that Cresselia was on their side that night. Yet, that did nothing to comfort Luka whatsoever. The moon was full, but it shined behind the outline of a black and stormy castle, which could only be surrounded by all sorts of bad news. Thunder rolled around its corners, and there were some very suspicious moany-windy noises in the jungle at its base.

"Oh no," said Luka. "No, no, no. We should have brought Mewtwo, or-or even Aiden or _someone_. There's no way I'm going to trust a bunch of girls to protect me from whatever is in there. I'm not following you in there."

"Glad that we're thinking alike," said Alfie. "You can protect _us_, because you'll be in the lead."

**End of Chapter Seven**


	9. Into the Castle

**Chapter Eight**

Less than a month ago, the scariest thing that had ever happened to Luka was the roller coaster incident (which was another story entirely.) If he could sum the whole story up, it would be with just three words: Nolan, fear, and heights. That story, though, was nothing compared to what he was facing now.

_Part one: We have to travel through the dangerous jungle and then into the tower of terror_, thought Luka. Whatever happened after that, he didn't want to acknowledge just yet. He was afraid that the blank would be filled with the words 'imminent death' or 'painful and excruciating torture.'

"Leader," he said. He turned to Alfie and pointed his finger at the castle. "Into _that?"_

He felt Sophie and Moor, one girl for each shoulder, shoving him forwards. "I have no complaints," chirped Sophie, and the Umbreon next to her nodded furiously.

"Moor? You too?" Luka glared at her. The word betrayal didn't quite cover what he was feeling.

The beautiful, dark-skinned girl put one hand on top of the other, and then she rolled the lower hand outwards until the tips of her fingers were touching to shape a pyramid. Then she gave a sheepish grin, accompanied by an equally as sheepish shrug.

"_After you, leader," _her hands had spoken.

"Fine," said Luka. Just to emphasize his point, he said a couple of mean things with his hands as well, which only made Moor snicker. He turned on his heel and stormed towards the jungle. "We obviously have a lack of responsible, brave people here. Looks like it's up to me."

Alfie was biting her lip to keep from laughing. Luka didn't want to think about how she was the one hanging back, but she didn't look frightened at all. "All of you are a bunch of wussies," he grumbled. "This rescue attempt wasn't even my idea in the first place…" He trailed off, his attention captured by something else.

The castle had several towers and spires, which reached high into the dark clouds above. In one of the towers, there was a small beam of light. The light was almost lost amongst all of the shadows around it, but it was just bright enough for Luka to notice. And he could have _sworn_ that he had heard the sound of protest, of fighting.

"Jirachi," he whispered. He turned towards the other girls. "Hey, guys! That tower up there. I just saw a light coming from it."

Everyone searched the top of the castle, but their gazes returned with nothing.

"I didn't see anything, Luka," said Sophie. She fluttered her wings to get a better look, but after about fifteen or so feet of extra height, she gave up and lowered herself to the sand again. When she spoke, she sounded apologetic. "No. I still didn't see anything."

"There _was_ something," he said. At his chest, the Heart significantly warmed. A small patch of his shirt was illuminated from beneath with a pink glow. "See? Even Cresselia says so. I think that's where Jirachi is being held."

Moor stared at him. _"Are we really so lost that we would follow the instructions of a pendant?" _ she asked. Her next hand movements were gibberish to Luka, because she moved so rapidly.

Alfie translated Moor's expression into her own words. Her eyes lingered on the Heart, whose glow was fading. "No, Luka did see something," she said, even though she sounded unsure. "If there's one thing I learned, it's to always take a hint from a higher-up. One that's on your side, at least. And if Cresselia is agreeing with Luka, then who are we to say he's wrong?"

"Yeah, what she said."

Alfie surveyed the tower that Luka had pointed to. "It's the one with the stone moon at the top," she said, more to herself than anyone else. "The rest don't have anything. All right, everyone, it's time to save Jirachi the Wishmaker. Onward we go."

As they continued forward, Luka looked at Alfie from the corner of his eye. She met his glance with an inch of a smile. She understood what he was trying to say. He was thankful to her, for believing him and following him even though she wasn't sure.

Moor's necklace began to glow with a purple energy. Before anyone but Luka could notice, she quickly stashed beneath the clasps of her hood, making sure that her hands were in prayer around it so she could contain its light. Luka frowned at this, wondering why she had been so frantic to cover it up.

"That's kind of a funny necklace, isn't it?" he asked her, sidling closer to her as they walked. "It only lights up sometimes. Has it always done that?"

Moor nodded. _"I am not sure why," _she said. Her hands faltered for a second, and then forgetting that she was supposed to be covering the necklace, they flew back to her chest. She said nothing else after that, not until Luka prodded her for more conversation.

"So, have you been here before?"

Luka felt stupid again. If there was one thing Moor probably didn't want to talk about, it was her past with Darkrai. _If_ she had one, that is. Nobody was positive what had happened yet. That was why Luka had been assigned to learn her language, after all. He couldn't bring himself to mention it, though, not yet. Besides, he didn't want to remember Malacai either. Not after he had watched Yami's little brother press the blade of a scythe to Moor's chin.

Moor was hesitant to answer. Her eyes were clouded with worry. When she took her hands away from her necklace, it had stopped glowing and was once again at rest. _"I am not sure," _she replied.

For that particular subject, Luka had a feeling he wasn't going to get much more than that. "And what about Malacai? How did you guys meet, anyway?"

"_I took him_. _Brought him to you._"

Luka pressed his lips together. Moor was usually talkative. She hadn't had a chance to share her language with others since her companion apparently disappeared, after all. But once Luka had started to tread into personal territory, she had shut herself off. So he just gave up.

Mewtwo would be pretty disappointed in him. Moor just looked so…delicate, though. Luka had seen that expression hundreds of times. There was something so frail about her, something that kept him from pursuing what she knew. He didn't want to break her. She was already slowly cracking.

"I'm surprised we haven't run into any ghosts or witches yet," commented Luka, attempting to abort his and Moor's failure of a conversation as soon as he could. "One would think that they would be surrounding the place."

"Yes, one _would_ think," echoed Alfie. Her steps slowed until she came to a halt. She stood there, chewing on her lower lip, and then she kept walking. "It doesn't matter. If they're here, they're here, and if they aren't, then better for us."

The wind was heavy and the night was dark. To their right, black ocean waves lapped at the sand, and to their left seemed to be miles of beach. Luka attempted to keep his sights set on the jungle, which seemed a lot less frightening than the castle atop the rocks. The second he had seen those black gargoyles, whose eyes seemed to remain fixed on him, he had to look away.

"This place would be kind of nice," said Sophie. Her arms were covered with goosebumps. She glanced at the castle from the corner of her eye. "You know, without _that_ thing hanging over the beach."

"That's probably how Darkrai lures his minions down here," said Luka, lacing his hands behind his head. He peeked at Sophie, giving her a slight grin. "Luxury resort. Five-star bedding. Free food."

Sophie widened her eyes. "You don't think that he actually—"

"Sophie, I'm kidding," said Luka. He laughed and was surprised how that managed to take his mind away from the trouble ahead. His chest was already feeling lighter. "Remember? He gets into people's dreams. What happened to being our researcher?"

Though he joked about it, there was a bad undertone to his words. Sophie was well aware that he had Cresselia's Heart, but she hadn't brought it up yet. Honestly, he didn't want her to worry. He dared not mention that Darkrai had been in his dreams. He had the feeling her reaction wouldn't be as stable, as calm as Alfie's had been. Sophie wasn't experienced enough.

He glanced at her. She was still pouting because she'd had a joke played on her, and Moor was holding the Swablu's shoulder and grinning. If there was one last thing he had to admit, _one _last thing that he had to be truly sincere about concerning Sophie, it was that she had taken on the role of being a divergent better than he had.

Luka didn't know much about her. She said she was from Lilycove in Hoenn. Her house was by the ocean. Before she became a Pokemon, she had black hair and gray eyes. She never had a mean word to say about anyone, unless they threatened something or someone loved. Then she became hateful. Her words were harsher, her attitude sharper, her heart more broken.

Hateful. Sophie hated her family. Luka knew that too.

He didn't know why she was like that. Everyone around him had barriers. While Alfie was open, she still kept secrets. Moor had a shield around herself like no other, but she didn't feel closed off. Sophie, on the other hand…there was something about her past that was so troubling he couldn't even force himself to bring it up.

Truthfully, he liked her the way she was. He didn't want to see her bitter side. Something as ugly as that would be even uglier on a girl like her, whose smile was so bright. And even though she expressed clear hate for whoever she left at home in Hoenn, Luka had never known anybody so genuine. She meant it when she said she liked his eyes and when she said she thought Alfie was adorable.

He allowed half of his face to smile, making sure that nobody else saw. She would become a better divergent than he could ever be. Her heart was stronger, her will more powerful.

"Do you think Darkrai knows we're here yet?" asked Alfie, even though she probably knew the answer already.

"If he does, he isn't very hospitable," said Luka.

As soon as Luka finished his sentence, there was a great explosion above them. They all cried out and covered their heads as rubble and debris rained down upon them. Smoke curled into the air, and once it cleared, all they could see what was left of one of the spires. The moon-tipped tower was still standing, but the yellow light from within was shining so fiercely that the ocean was tinted a golden bronze.

"W—what happened?" stammered Alfie. Her breath caught in her throat as there was another flash of light. Then she sprinted forward without waiting for anyone else, yelling, "_Jirachi!" _as she went.

"Alfie, wait!" called Luka, but his words were interrupted as the ground began to rumble. He managed to keep his eyes on Alfie until she disappeared behind a thick layer of jungle foliage. Cursing, he groaned as he jumped to his feet, determining to keep that reckless idiot out of immediate danger.

Moor's necklace was so alive that it practically cast a purple glow over her whole body. She was staring down at it, almost afraid to touch it. Luka dug his heel into the sand and helped her up, but even though he yanked hard on her wrist, her dilated eyes never left her pendant.

"Sophie," said Luka, breathing hard, "go get Alfie. Search for her. Fly over the jungle, I don't know. But don't let her go into that castle by herself."

Sophie dusted away a sheet of ash from her shoulders. Before she could even stand up, her wings were spread. "Keep up, okay?" she said softly, and then she literally shot into the jungle, calling Alfie's name the whole way.

Luka watched her go for a split second. Reality was hitting him harder than ever.

_My life will never go back to the way it was, _he thought hopelessly. _We're in real danger now._

He turned to Moor, pulling harder at her thin wrist. "Moor, we _have_ to go," he said urgently. Her hands were trembling over her pendant, her usually red eyes then a haunting violet. "Moor, _Moor_, are you listening to me?"

She stared up at him, her attention finally released from her necklace. Her fingers were twitching. Luka didn't need her sign language to understand the emotions behind her. She was afraid. There was something deeper, though. Something that said she wasn't afraid because of the explosions.

Moor nodded. Luka could only nod back, and then he let her go. She shakily stood up. The two shared a silent understanding as they watched the towers begin to collapse. The light, Luka realized, could be Jirachi's way of fighting back. Then Luka thought of another possibility: The time for the Millenium Wish was happening.

"Oh, Alfie," he whispered, scared out of his wits. _No. Not Alfie. Sophie. Sophie and ME. _Driven by selflessness, powered by both fear and courage, he started running towards the forest and closer to the castle. He only stopped when he realized Moor wasn't right behind him. "Moor," he said. He turned around. "Are you coming with me?"

She looked away, licking her lips nervously. _"Not a good idea," _she said.

"I need your help," responded Luka. "Please."

There were many ways she wanted to turn him down. He knew this for a fact. So he wasn't quite sure how, after seeing many battles and conflicts in her eyes, she managed to nod her head again and follow him into the jungle. As she passed, he could feel her anxiety, which only grew as they broke into the trees and fell into darkness.

They didn't stop running. Luka felt electricity pounding in his blood, begging to escape. His hands crackled with static as his own adrenaline burned. He wasn't sure what to expect when he would burst from the forest. All he knew was that he was ready.

When they emerged from behind a bundle of leaves, the door to the castle was ajar and Sophie was standing on the steps, a helpless look on her face. She turned around, spotting Moor and Luka.

"S—she just went inside!" exclaimed Sophie, her eyes tearing up. "I didn't want to leave her alone, but I thought I should wait for you two before I…" Disturbed by her hiccups, she stopped talking.

"No explanation needed," said Luka as he rushed to her side. His first instinct was to run inside the castle, but there was something that was just too suspicious. The way was too clear, the trouble too little. Besides the explosions in the towers, from what he heard there was no sound of conflict inside. Either way, he knew what he had to do. "Alfie can handle herself well enough. You were right to wait for us. Now, let's go."

Moor kept her hand attached to Luka's as they ran up the stairs, going two at a time. With each step, her skin grew colder. Her palms became damp and stiff in his grasp. And, by the time they had reached the doors, she had completely let him go and was keeping to herself.

They slipped in through the doors. Inside, the castle was mostly empty. There was nothing extravagant about it except for its winding staircase, which was placed right in the center of the room and curled upwards so high that it eventually led to darkness. Right in the middle of the staircase, Luka caught sight of green.

"_Alfie_, wait for us!" he yelled.

His voice echoed throughout the vacant room, bouncing off the walls and back to him. But either Alfie hadn't heard (impossible) or she had ignored him (yeah, totally), because she kept running. She was going so fast that Luka was instantly reminded of how he'd chased her up the fire escape and was unable to keep up with her.

"Oh my god, her boyfriend is going to _kill_ me," said Luka. He hadn't trained hard enough, because he was already out of breath and wasn't sure if he could keep going. He had to, though. There was no other choice. "Come on…" he breathed. "She's going to get herself hurt."

Sophie shot from the ground, and with her wings, she gained altitude faster than anyone else could. Again, Moor and Luka were left to themselves. For a moment, all Luka heard was the sound of their footsteps, their running, of Sophie's wings beating a hundred feet above them. Or maybe that was the sound of Moor's heart next to him, of her pulse in his hand.

They ran up the stairs, never stopping to breathe. There was so much at stake, would be so many paths to take once they reached the top of the stairs. _Will we find Jirachi? Is he still safe? Has Darkrai already used his wish? Are Alfie and Sophie hurt? _

In those few moments between him and those possibilities, he had much time to think. _This is only the beginning_, was one of those thoughts. And then he realized how little he had done in the Pokemon world. _I…I complained. I ran away._ _Is that the person I want to be?_

They came to a screeching halt at one of the doors along the staircase, attracted by the light that was cast along its wall. When he glanced back at Moor, she was not using her hands to speak. From her lips came no voice, but he saw the shape of the words, _"Run."_

"W—what?"

The stone beneath them began to split. Cracks formed along their heels and ran up the walls. With every breathe Luka took, the sound of breaking rock grew louder. Panicking, he looked up.

Alfie and Sophie were both safe, but they were so occupied that when Luka called their names they didn't even respond. And then Luka saw who was behind them, who was the castor of the light: Jirachi, who was no larger than a child, was locked in a steel cage. The only things keeping him from freedom were the bars and the giant lock, which the girls were currently attempting to break.

"Alfie, Sophie," said Luka, desperation in his voice. He stiffened his body so that he wouldn't jump to the side when another crack formed beneath his feet. "Guys, just take the cage. We don't have any time!"

Jirachi had his tiny hands on the steel bars. "Oh, girls," he said, almost a pitiful sigh. While he only looked about seven or eight, both his words and dark eyes were old souls. Being a creature that only awoke every thousand years, Luka imagined Jirachi must have been almost as old as time itself. "That lock was forged by Darkrai's magic. I have tried many times to undo its power."

Luka heard a shriek behind him. Some of the ground had fallen away from Moor. She was pressed against the wall and close to the door, sidestepping along the boundaries on her tiptoes. _"Run," _her lips said again. This time, her expression was more fearful, more persistent. She nodded towards the door, almost like she was implying that she and Luka should escape together.

_Always running away. Is that who I want to be?_

Instead of joining Moor at the wall, Luka took careful steps forward to join the other girls at Jirachi's cage. He clutched the Heart, asking for strength and hoping for answers. Cresselia's power was warm in his palm. He glanced at Darkrai's lock, which seemed so black that there was no way the girls would break it. Even Jirachi said he could not "undo its power." _Power_. The lock was formed from Darkrai's enchantments.

_Something so dark…_ thought Luka, his own heart being filled with more and more dread, _could not be broken by normal circumstances. _He looked down at Cresselia's Heart. _Something like that…needs light._

And then he had it.

Because he could not rip the pendant from his neck, Luka shoved the girls aside and slammed the Heart into the lock. A force exploded from the collision as both dark and light battled. The mixed power tore at Luka. It seemed like the Heart would founder beneath the evil magic. Luka just had to hope that something so meaningful to Cresselia would be able to overcome a simple lock. He just had to.

Only seconds after the lock shattered did the ground fall apart too. For a moment, Luka was airborne. There was nothing beneath him but a black pit, and above him he saw the others with an equally shocked expression on their face. Everything quieted for a moment. And then they began to fall.

Seconds felt like minutes. As time slowed, there was something even more astonishing that caught Luka's eye. Moor had not fallen. She was standing in the doorway with her arms wrapped around herself, watching with trembling eyes as her friends fell. And then Luka had to wonder: _Why is she not falling? Why is she not with us?_

What he saw next topped everything that he had ever seen before. Alfie had somehow launched herself towards Moor, her hands outstretched, desperately reaching for something. Moor startled and recoiled as Alfie's hands wrapped around the onyx sphere on her neck. Just before Alfie could break the chain and pull it away, a shadow had formed behind the two girls.

_Darkrai._

Everything else happened at normal pace, fast enough for Luka to lose his thoughts and end up submerged in fear. Debris hit his face. Wind shrieked around his shoulders. He too was reaching for something but had nothing to grab. Seconds into his fall, he felt a delicate hand snatch his. When his eyes opened in bewilderment, he saw Sophie.

"Luka," she whispered. She was struggling. There was sweat beading at her brow as she attempted to hold both her weight and his with only her flapping wings. "Hold on," she said, pain lacing through her voice. Her tiny wrists looked like they were about to snap. "I'll…I'll get us both out of here. Don't worry."

He couldn't say anything. All he could do was stare. He stared at Alfie and Moor, stared as Darkrai's arms enveloped them and pulled them away from freedom. Even though he saw Jirachi diving for them from the corner of his eye, knew that at least him and Sophie would be saved, the last thought that went through his mind was: _Oh yeah. Yami is definitely going to kill me._

**End of Chapter Eight**


	10. Secrets Revealed

**Chapter Nine**

All at once, there was a blinding light, and then Luka found himself colliding face first into sand. He couldn't remember where he was or what had happened for several minutes. When he finally sat up, he saw violet ocean waves and a broken castle in the distance.

_A decoy_, he realized with dread, his ears drooping. _Darkrai meant for us to be there. The floor fell out underneath us. He was ready. _Luka glanced back at Jirachi, who had his hand on Sophie's trembling shoulder. _But he didn't mean to lose Jirachi. He just wanted us out of the way._

Despite the small victory, he couldn't help but feel absolutely devastated. Alfie was gone. Moor had…he didn't want to acknowledge it. She had looked innocent enough, and she _had_ told him to run for his life. But she had so willingly allowed Darkrai to consume both herself and Alfie, who had practically given herself up to get that stupid necklace.

"Alfie wouldn't have done that unless there was something important about that pendant," he whispered, unaware that he was speaking aloud until Sophie said, "What?" from behind him. Luka turned around, dropped to his knees, and _thought_. He thought long and hard, using the stricken silence to his advantage.

_I don't understand any of this_, he thought. He lowered his forehead and dug his fingers into the sand. For the first time in a while, he felt truly angered. He faced Jirachi, his temper boiling in him. "We went all this way for you," he said. "I want answers, and I want them now."

Jirachi's expression didn't change, but Sophie was taken aback. "Luka," she said. The fact that she said his name so seriously was almost a warning.

"Shut up, Sophie," said Luka, earning a squeak from the girl. "It must be obvious that I'm not the most well-informed or educated person around here, because I'm the only one who wants to know why the hell we just went all this way to save _you_. We lost Alfie. Darkrai was keeping you in that cage for a reason. Why?" He didn't mention Moor for good reason.

Jirachi resembled a small child – an angelic one, at that. His hair was golden blonde and his eyes were dark. He wore a three-pointed, star-shaped headdress, which had paper tags hanging from each point. His clothes were clean and white, despite that fact that he had been a prisoner in a steel cage for who knows how long. And he glowed; he glowed like a star, absolutely brimming with inner power. That inner power is what might have kept his face straight and his nerves calm as Luka hammered him with pure attitude.

"Because I am the Wishmaker," answered Jirachi. He was obviously both mentally and physically exhausted, but Luka, for some reason, felt no immediate sympathy for him. "I wake up every one thousand years. I grant wishes until I go back to sleep. I cannot kill or implement thoughts. If you wish to find a shortcut to end the rebellion, there are almost no loopholes that you may find."

"Funny," said Luka. "Darkrai must have not gotten his chance, because he hasn't exactly taken over the world yet."

Jirachi shook his head. "No," he said. "His time had not come yet. He may be selfish, and he may desire world domination, but he was not reckless. Do you think he could so precisely plan the rebellion if he was?" He paused for a long while, and then he added, "Divergents, I will tell you what he so desperately wanted. I will tell you why, also. That way you may understand."

"Oh, please do," pleaded Sophie.

Luka was not impressed. Sure, he had been feeling real mighty and strong not too long ago, but that was all gone. All that was left of his shredded body was raw emotion. "Go ahead."

"You may or may not be aware that Arceus, our overlord, holds the power of sixteen plates," said Jirachi. "These reservoirs hold an _unimaginably_ limitless span of power. They are what keeps the overlord strong, what keeps him healthy. Without them, he will surely fall. Whoever holds them…they will never, under any span of time or edge of space, know any truer and greater might. That is what Darkrai wants."

"The _Plates?" _asked Sophie. "_The _Plates?" She seemed mindblown by this revelation. "That's why kidnapped you?"

"Yes," said Jirachi. The wish tags hanging from his headdress began to sway in the wind. "At first, Darkrai was satisfied with the idea of rebellion. To see the overlord's once faithful people turn against him…that pleased him greatly. He amassed an army, targeted the innocent. This was not enough. There were two more accomplishments he had yet to reach. One, to attain the Plates without breaking the rules of interference…"

"The rules of interference?" Luka had heard the concept in play several times: how Arceus could not settle his people, how higher-ups like Dialga could not go back in time and alter Darkrai's mind. "What's the worst that could happen? Why didn't he just use you and wish for the Plates to be his?"

"_Those_ are the rules," said Sophie softly. "You can't just break them. They're ancient. The higher-ups have so much _power_… imagine what it would be like if there were no rules between them."

"She is right," said Jirachi. "There must be a barrier to keep us in our place. Order and peace would be extinguished had the overlord neglected that. As for Darkrai, using my powers to wish for the Plates is against those rules. I would be to blame for that as well. So, instead of that, he was going to wish for something else."

Sophie bit her lip, thinking about what that wish could possibly be. Even Luka didn't know how Darkrai had planned to get around that one. _Seems like the higher-ups are so strict about what's interfering and what's not…_he thought. _There's such a fine line there. Darkrai was perfectly capable of taking Jirachi and keeping him locked up in the castle._

Jirachi searched the two for any guesses they might have had. When they were at a loss for words, he faced the ocean and watched the waves. "Once, in a time where there was no turmoil and his rule was kind, Arceus entrusted the Plates to us, his children," he said. "This was many years ago. Thousands and thousands, in fact; I have been awake many times since. There were there only for emergencies. And then, war happened. Corruption came upon our family. That was when our overlord locked the Plates away with lock and key, never to be seen by our kind again."

Sophie was fascinated. "Oh, Jirachi, I've never heard of that legend before," she said.

Luka, for a moment, saw an opportunity to look smart and upstage her. Then again, he had the feeling that if bookworm Sophie had never heard of that particular fact, then there was a reason for it. Jirachi confirmed his suspicions with the words, "Because it has been a long kept secret."

He wasn't sure if he liked the darker aspects of the Pokemon world. When he realized that, there was another thought that occurred to him. _Have us humans been so intrigued by the gilded Pokemon world that we are frightened by them and their real power? _He remembered when he was little and his father was still around, he used to listen to the tales of the legendary beasts. Not once in those fairytales was mentioned word of war or destruction.

"The Plates are kept in another dimension entirely," continued Jirachi. "We cannot reach them, but not because we are not allowed to. We simply have no idea the whereabouts of this land, nor do we have any methods of reaching it and coming back. I am not interested in the Plates. There are many I could name who are not either. Darkrai and some others…I cannot say the same."

Luka imagined searching for those Plates, knowing that infinite power was so close and yet so far. "Wait," he said, reminded of a small detail. "You said you aren't kept from them because you're not allowed to. You just don't know where they are. That's what Darkrai was going to wish for, wasn't he? He was going to ask you to find it. And not only that, he was going to have you ship him there and back."

"I am glad I did not have to," said Jirachi bitterly. "I barely escaped. Before I was able to fly to your rescue, I had to fight him off. There was only one reason I was not taken away again. The light that you used to break his lock…some of it still shined. He could not get close to me as long as I beheld that light."

"Wait, you mean…"

"Jirachi," said Sophie. "You said that Darkrai had two wishes. You only mentioned one, that he wanted to get ahold of the Plates. What was the second wish?"

"The Heart," he said simply. His eyes never left Luka. "His second wish was to destroy her Heart. The task would not be complicated."

Luka felt sick. "The rules, though," he began, searching for an excuse. He felt like the harder he searched, the deeper he fell. Clutching at the pendant, he asked, "He can't just destroy the Heart, right? That…that would be against the rules, it…"

Jirachi stared at him until he was stunned into silence. "If there is one thing that you may have learned about being divergent, it is that you are free game," he said. "Your friend, Alfie, learned that when she was on her own quest. Right now, you and Sophie are exposed for all the hurt, misery, and sadness that can so evilly inflicted upon you by Pokemon like Darkrai. Unfortunately, while you may have Cresselia on your side, that does not change anything. He wants the Heart. That means that he wants you too, now that he knows you have it."

"But, he can't just destroy it!" said Luka, becoming more frustrated.

"Cresselia has entrusted you with something wonderful," said Jirachi. "You could even say that she is here with you now. As long as you wear that necklace, you two are connected. And when she gave you her Heart, she has given you everything that embodies her – her very existence, you might say. Her life is delicate, and now, it is in your hands. And to destroy her Heart…all Darkrai must do is destroy _you."_

_Free game. Exposed for hurt. Destroy me. Destroy the Heart._ Luka fell to his knees. _Ohh. I get it now._

"But, Jirachi…!" exclaimed Sophie. "Please, tell us how the Heart can stop Darkrai. I've…I've done so much research, read so many books, and I still don't know. I still don't know anything!"

"I do not know anything else but that," said Jirachi apologetically. "They are a mysterious bunch, those two. Brother and sister, and yet they are one another's greatest enemies. There were never two siblings more opposite than them. Even curiouser, they are the only higher-ups who do not follow the rules of interference when it comes to each other."

Sophie deflated, obviously disappointed. "Looks like we'll never figure it out," she said to Luka.

"Luka, do not fret," said Jirachi, attempting to cheer him up. The Wishmaker placed his small palm on his shoulder.

"Yeah, don't fret," said Luka, who looked worse off than Sophie. "You basically just told me that if Darkrai gets ahold of me, then he can kill his own sister, and she's the only person who can kill him. Legend is pretty cool and all, but it sucks at documenting things. I just wish I knew more about all of this."

"Everything is up in the air right now," agreed Sophie. "But I don't think they can _kill_ each other. They sort of neutralize one another, I think. I read that somewhere, but it didn't go into detail."

Jirachi still had not removed his hand from Luka's shoulder. He gave a comforting squeeze. Jirachi was wise and old and all, but Luka still felt like he was getting reassurance from a seven year old.

He lowered his head, stroking the curve of the Heart with his index finger. _Cresselia has a Heart. Her "existence" is what Jirachi said. And Darkrai is her twin, her exact opposite…wouldn't he have something like that too? Something that his life force is channeled into. And would he keep it to himself, or would he entrust it with someone, just like Cresselia did with me?_

There was a suspicious thought lingering in the back of his head. It was kind of funny how often he had been reminded of the Heart when he looked at the necklace that Moor carried around. Kind of funny how she had been so willingly captured by Darkrai while Alfie had screamed and struggled to run away…kind of funny how Alfie had lunged for the necklace in attempt to rip it from Moor's neck.

"Who is that over there?" asked Jirachi, interrupting Luka's busy mind. His gaze was fixed on something in the distance. "He has been standing there for several minutes."

When Luka turned around, he nearly choked on his own gasp of surprise. He wasn't exactly sure, but he could have sworn that he saw dark, violet hair and red eyes. For a second, he was tempted to call Yami's name, ready to apologize for what had happened to Alfie. And then he saw the rounder cheeks, the shorter height and fuller body, the more haunted expression. "Malacai," he whispered.

_It took all of Luka's willpower to not shout out. Instead, he kept his tone calm and steady. "Put that down, Malacai," he said. "You don't know what you're doing. Are you being controlled? Listen to me. You can't let yourself be influenced. Open your eyes – Moor hasn't done anything wrong. Your brother still wants to see you very much. How would you feel if he…" As Malacai turned and looked at him, Luka trailed off._

_The young boy stood there, unmoving. Suddenly, in a voice that was too mature for someone his age, he said, "I know what I'm doing. Maybe it's __you__who should open his eyes."_

Malacai was warily lingering about twenty yards from them. He looked like he was asking for permission to get any closer. On his back, he carried a scythe twice his size. The weapon had looked fearsome in firelight, but under the moon and in the shadow of the castle it looked even more dangerous.

Instead of shouting his name or begging him to come closer, Luka yelled, "When you said that I should open my eyes…you meant Moor, didn't you? You knew that she was a spy."

"A _spy?"_ exclaimed Sophie, gaping. Jirachi stayed quiet, intrigued by this sudden accusation. "Luka, maybe we shouldn't rush to assumptions!"

Malacai's eyes narrowed, as if he was thinking, _And so what if I did? _His hands were hanging at his sides, but as Luka began to slowly approach him, he didn't throw away the idea that the smaller boy might lunge for the weapon and attack them.

"Alright, I get it," said Luka with his hands in the surrender position. All reason had returned to him. He couldn't help it; Malacai reminded him of Nolan. When it came to children, there was no more room for anger and recklessness. "I'm not trying to bring you back to camp. I just have some questions for you."

"Fair enough," said Malacai. He crossed his arms, cocking his head slightly.

Luka stopped about ten feet away from the boy and relaxed. "You were once under Darkrai's control, weren't you?" he asked. "You were having nightmares for a week. And someone woke you up."

"It was your light." Yami's little brother lifted his hand, pointing at the necklace. "You ran by my room after the fire started. Then I saw her, and my nightmares became happy dreams. I woke up and escaped myself. I carried a piece of her…_your_ light after I left. It stayed with me for a long time. When I came to this island, the last pieces of it faded away. I can see it now though. Ghost people like me never see anything like this."

_Cresselia's Heart can influence those who are under mind control? _Luka thought in amazement. He took the necklace out from under his shirt. From what he could tell, the necklace wasn't shining at all, but Malacai winced and covered his eyes. Confused, Luka questioned, "The Heart is shining at this very second?"

"Yes," said Malacai, sounding irritated. "Put it away. It's too much now."

Luka did as he requested.

When the necklace was hidden, Malacai gave a pleasant sigh. "I can't carry the light with me anymore," he said. Then he started to ramble, "But it feels nice. Ghost people are like spirits, so it hurts to get too close to it. Too much of anything is bad, I guess. Makes me wonder how my brother can so fearlessly be around your people. He doesn't like the dark, like we do. That's why he loves Alfie so much. She's like the sun."

"People like _me_?"

"You have the overlord's magic inside of you," said Malacai. He nodded at Sophie. "All divergents glow like her. You, on the other hand, carry a piece of Cresselia, and she's brighter than any light anybody has ever seen. She outshines even Arceus. I think Darkrai is afraid of you and your shine. I might be, too."

Luka breathed hard. _I can save people like him. The Heart can bring back those who have fallen under Darkrai's mind control. _For the first time, Luka felt hope. He just needed more facts. "W—where are the others being kept?" he said, the fingers of his voice outstretching for anything he could use. "The army, I mean. The victims."

"They're all over. It doesn't matter where they are. If Darkrai calls for them, they will come and gather."

"So they're not in one place," sighed Luka. He wasn't sure how he could go about healing them. Perhaps he would have to wander and hope that whoever came his way might see Cresselia's light. He glanced back at Sophie, who looked so hopeful and whose heart was so large that she would be devastated to learn she couldn't help.

_No, she can help. Just not yet. _

There would be no more relying on Jirachi and Malacai for the answers. For the slightest moment and beyond that, Luka cared. Everything had changed when he had been given something to fight for, just like Alfie said it would. He may have not been able to see the light that Cresselia's Heart gave others, but he knew it was there. And now, it was time to act.

"One more question," said Luka, his eyes flitting towards the ground. "Moor. She really was a spy, wasn't she? She betrayed us all."

Malacai's face grew dark. "I tried to do everyone a favor," he said. His small hands hovered over the scythe's handle. "That isn't my job, though. I should really stay out of this. I've grown up a Ghost, and a Ghost I'll always be. Disposing of her would mean betraying my own family."

"Who would you be doing a favor for, then?" asked Luka.

"Yami." Malacai turned around, ready to walk away. "He's not like the rest of us. Somewhere in his life, he accepted light. Because of that, he and I will never be true brothers again." At this, Malacai sounded regretful, but not upset. When he spoke again, his voice was very, very quiet. "I don't think I understand…how many demons and shadows he had to fight to get to her. Maybe I never will. Maybe I will never understand love like that. You might. But not me. I'm a Ghost."

When he said Ghost, he acted like the word was associated with the very epitome of misery. _Being a Ghost means no love. It means solitude. It means cold attics and empty hearts. And it also means a family of other lonely people. _That was what his words conveyed. And to Luka, that was possibly the saddest thing he could ever hear.

"You could be like him," said Luka. His voice climbed to a yell as Malacai began to distance himself. "You could help us and our cause. And you could be with your brother. You…you don't have to be alone."

_Alone._ That was a word that Luka was familiar with.

Malacai stopped, ocean waves lapping at his shoes. "There are some people who can be saved, and there are some who cannot," he said. "Yami was saved." He faced Luka again, his expression fierce. "He was saved by that girl, and if he never sees her again, there will be nothing left for him. So you better find her. And while you're at it, find Moor too."

"Why should I do that?" asked Luka, sickened.

"Because she _can_ be saved," said Malacai. "When you see hope like that, you don't leave it to die."

Luka was left speechless. He thought of Moor's delighted laugh, how much she indulged in their time together in the Greenhouse…the way she held the blooming flowers wistfully, as if she was absorbing their color. Even though he was riddled with those memories, he only said, "I'll think about it."

But Malacai was already gone. As he walked farther along the stretch of beach, his form grew wispier and eventually faded away into dark dust. There was a small orb of light as the spirit wandered over the water, and then he disappeared completely. Luka stood there and stared, listening to the ocean and the sound of Sophie's footsteps rushing up behind him.

"I...I thought he might come back to camp with us," she said, panting. "That poor boy...I feel so sorry for him."

"No," said Luka. He had so desperately hoped that too, but he sort of understood how Malacai felt. Their age difference was small, yet Malacai still seemed a hundred eternities wiser. "There was no way I could have convinced him."

"Did you learn anything?" said Sophie. There was urgency in her tone. "I've been talking with Jirachi this whole time. I think we have to get back to camp right _now."_

**End of Chapter Nine**


End file.
